Update - City vs. We Love Lake Worth Lawsuit - Beach

The document above was filed on behalf of the defendants on April 15, 2008. With the number of lawsuits swirling around our City, it is difficult to keep them all straight and know where they are in the process. That is why the City Commission needs regular updates from the City Attorney about the status of them. I don't think that I have ever been at a Commission meeting where Mr. Karns, our City Attorney has went down the list of standing lawsuits. Anyway, it would be a good tradition to start.

This lawsuit springs from the attempt by petition gatherers to force the land use and zoning change related to the beach property to a referendum. This land use and zoning change would allow the Greater Bay project to move forward since the current land use and zoning only permits "open air recreation" and related uses. Commercial uses present in the Casino building would not be allowed under the existing land use and zoning designation. This should have been taken care of long ago, but it wasn't and we are experiencing the result of that oversight or attempts to postpone the inevitable.

The Political Action Committee (PAC), We Love Lake Worth, filed over the minimum number of signatures at which time, the City wondered what to do. The same Florida Statute that is involved in the Sunset property lawsuit is at issue here. That particular Statute says that local governments cannot hold a referendum on a development order that affects 5 or fewer parcels. If the property affects 6 or more parcels, then a referendum can be held. The City's Charter allows referendums on ordinances but does not single out development orders for special treatment.

What the defendants are attempting to do here is convince the Court that there are more than 6 parcels here and therefore, a referendum should be allowed.

What a shame that we are made aware of this after the good faith effort shown by the City and Greater Bay in working cooperatively towards a real deadline on the pool work so that a State of Florida grant would not be lost. That deadline was April 30th and according to all accounts that I have heard, they will make that deadline.

There is another lawsuit regarding the provisions of the lease and development agreement between Greater Bay and the City. I haven't heard a report on where that stands, other than the City made amendments to the agreement in response to that lawsuit, but that will not deter those that filed the suit.

Have you ever been to the Cove Restaurant in Deerfield Beach, it's on the Intracoastal and has a delightful nighttime dining environment? I recently went there with friends and we thought how nice it would be to have such a place on our Lake Worth beach. Until these lawsuits are resolved, I guess we will just have to imagine the possibilities.