09-26-80SpMtg 283
SEPTEMBER 26, 1980
A special meeting of the City Council of the City of Delray
Beach, Florida, was held in the Council Chambers at 11:50 A.M., Friday,
September 26, 1980 with Mayor Leon M. Weekes, presiding and City Manager
J. Eldon Mariott, City Attorney Roger Saberson, and Council members
Malcolm T. Bird, Charlotte G. Durante, James H. Scheifley, and Willard
V. Young, present.
Mayor Weekes announced that this meeting has been called for
the purpose of (1) considering request for water and sewer service out-
side the City limits -- South Ridge of Delray Corporation and (2) con-
sidering conditional use approval -- Church of God.
(2) The City Attorney reported that item 2 cannot be considered
at a special meeting and should be removed from the agenda; the final
decision of Council must be made at a regular meeting.
It was the consensus of Council to have this item on the
agenda for the next regular meeting.
(1) The City Manager reported that this was on the last regular
agenda at which time Council, upon being informed that the plan use does
not conform to the City's Land Use Plan, deferred action for 30 days and
referred it back to the Planning & Zoning Board. There was discussion
at the special meeting on Wednesday with regard to this item and it was
decided to bring it to the meeting today. At the meeting on Wednesday,
the applicant stated that this situation is the same as in another
instance where the City granted water service to another property in the
same general area some time ago. That has been looked into and they
find that the cases are quite similar. That one also was referred to
the Planning & Zoning Board because of the zoning conflict. There were
only two differences: (1) that property was in litigation for some
period of time and (2) the Planning & Zoning Board discovered that the
Land Use Plan called for recreational and open space use on that 5 or 6
acre tract; the Board recommended that the Land Use Plan be changed to
single family, it was changed and it is single family today. With those
two minor exceptions, the situation before Council today is identical to
the situation back then. The applicant informed Council on Wednesday
that he was under a tight deadline with the County.
Mr. Scheifley suggested that Council consider giving them
water on the condition that they annex with the property being zoned
single family and they'll be a nonconforming use.
The City Attorney reported on the Allstate case of Boca
Raton. He stated that the City of Boca Raton had an application from
Allstate to develop 300 acres of land at a total of 1,800 units. Boca
refused water and sewer service for reasons that included the appli-
cant's unwillingness to comply with the zoning and planning ordinances
of the City. The applicant took that refusal into court; the City filed
a motion to dismiss the complaint and the trial court dismisSed it.
Allstate then took it to the Fourth District Court and the Fourth Dis-
trict Court upheld the dismissal of the complaint. 'The plaintiff, in
this case, was relying solely on the plan that is created for Palm Beach
County, under the authority of the Area Planning Board Legislation, that
the plan created an absolute obligation on the City to provide water and
sewer service without conditions. The Fourth District rejected that;
they looked first at the act that created the Area Planning Board and
said that that act says very specifically that nothing in it was in-
tended to diminish or change the powers and duties of local government
and then they looked at the specific wording in the plan and said the
language in that plan is not mandatory. The court said that Boca's
refusal was proper.
Mr. Bird referred to the question of granting water to the
migrant camp. He recalled that part of the discussion revolved around
an attempt on the part of the City, some years before it was a migrant
camp, to preclude provisioning of water; the City lost that case in
Court.
Mayor Weekes stated that they've talked about and worked on
the problem of the pockets; they're fostering, by this kind of action,
the continuation of pockets; they're never going to get them all under
these kinds of conditions. The advalorem tax revenue is being denied to
the City for properties that are developed in the pockets and are de-
riving the benefits of municipal services from the City.
Mrs. Durante stated that the predominant use in that area is
single family and, based on what the City Attorney has said, she feels
that they should uphold their Land Use Plan and, pe'rhaps, withhold the
water. Mr. Bird stated that if they have the authority to withhold
water from this development, they should do so.
Mr. Bird moved to deny water service to this tract unless
the applicant is willing to conform to the Comprehensive Plan, Zoning _~
Ordinances and the implementing regulations adopted by the City of
Delray Beach, seconded by Mr. Scheifley. Upon roll call Council voted
as follows: Mr. Bird - Yes; Mrs. Durante - Yes; Mr. Scheifley - Yes;
Mr. Young - No; Mayor Weekes - No. Said motion passed with a 3 to 2
vote.
Mayor Weekes declared the meeting adjourned at 12:10 P.M.
~ City Clerk
ATTEST:
MAYOR
The undersigned is the City Clerk of the City of Delray
Beach and that the information provided herein is the minutes of the
meeting of said City Council of September 26, 1980 which minutes were
formally approved and adopted by the City Council on ~. f~/ /~ .
Clerk
NOTE TO READER:
If the minutes that you have received are not completed as indicated
above, then this means that these are not the official minutes of City
Council. They will become the official minutes only after they have
been reviewed and approved which may involve some amendments, additions,
or deletions to the minutes as set forth above.
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