Central Bank & Trust Co. v. Board of County Com'rs of Dade County

• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals
• Writing for the Court: HENDRY
• Citation: Central Bank & Trust Co. v. Board of County Com'rs of Dade County, 340 So.2d 503 (Fla. App. 1976)
• Decision Date: 07 December 1976
• Docket Number: No. 75--1760,75--1760
• Parties: CENTRAL BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, Trustee, and Walter Sonnenreich, Trustee, Appellants, v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF DADE COUNTY, Florida, et al., Appellees.

Page 503

340 So.2d 503

CENTRAL BANK AND TRUST COMPANY, Trustee, and Walter Sonnenreich, Trustee, Appellants, v. BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF DADE COUNTY, Florida, et al., Appellees.

No. 75--1760.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

Dec. 7, 1976.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 6, 1977.

Reiseman, Buchbinder & Elegant, Miami, for appellants.

Stuart L. Simon, County Atty. and St. Julien P. Rosemond, Asst. County Atty., for appellees.

Before HENDRY and NATHAN, JJ., and CHARLES CARROLL (Ret.), Associate Judge.

HENDRY, Judge.

Appellants, petitioners below, appeal a final judgment and an amended final judgment dated October 16, 1975, and October 23, 1975, respectively. In substance, both final judgments denied appellants' petitions for writ of certiorari which sought review of the Dade County Commission's decision to rezone appellant's land. Appellee, respondent below, is the Board of County Commissioners of Dade County, Florida, the administrative body which rezoned appellants' land.

This matter arises out of an application for rezoning made by the directors of the Metropolitan Dade County Building and Zoning Department and Planning Department. The application for rezoning sought a change from an RU--4 (apartments--50 units per acre) classification to an RU--3M (minimum apartment house--12.9 units per acre) classification. The property subject to this application comprises approximately 24 acres bordered along its outermost boundaries by S.W. 57th Avenue (Red Road) to the west, S.W. 54th Avenue to the east, S.W. 74th Street to the north, and S.W. 80th Street to the south. The City of South Miami is located west of the subject property, directly across Red Road, and the City of Coral Gables is located one block north of the subject property across Sunset Drive.

The subject property is entirely developed by apartments having an average density of 17 units per acre. Completely surrounding the property to the north, east and south is RU--1 (single-family) zoning. Directly west of the subject property (Red Road) are professional offices and new buildings of the two story type.

Prior to the hearing of July 10, 1973, before the Board of County Commissioners of Metropolitan Dade County, many residents, individually and through their respective associations, requested the County Manager's office to impose a building moratorium on the area. At that time, the directors of both the Building and Zoning Department and Planning Department had already initiated an application for the rezoning of the subject property. The directors were aware of the fact that several of the property owners had intended to raze some of the existing apartment buildings and construct apartment buildings in accordance with the RU--4 zoning (50 units per acre). Concerned that the density of 50 units per acre would be incompatible with the surrounding single family neighborhood, the directors filed their application with recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners.

The recommendation of the planning director stated that the possible density of 50 units per acre allowed by the RU--4 zoning would be 'grossly incompatible with the surrounding developed neighborhood of single family homes.' In addition, the zoning director recommended that 'the RU--4 zoning which now exists on the subject property is completely out of character with the development and zoning in the area,' however, 'the recommended RU--3M would be compatible and in character with the entire neighborhood.'

At the hearing before the County Commissioners on July 10, 1973, the above recommendations were reiterated. The Commissioners also heard the statements of various residents whose testimony reflected their concern over increased traffic, congestion, sewage disposal, etc., which would arise from new construction under the RU--4 zoning classification. At the same time, opponents of the directors recommendations, the land owners, testified that under RU--3M zoning, it would be economically unfeasible to tear down the old apartments and build new units.

By resolution, the Board of County Commissioners granted the requested district boundary change to RU--3M and rezoned the property accordingly. From this resolution, appellants filed their consolidated petition for a writ of certiorari in the Circuit Court of Dade County. By order dated October 16, 1975, the lower court entered a final judgment against Central Bank and Trust Company, Trustee, as one of the landowners....