City of Boynton Beach v. v. S.H. Realty, Inc., 82-1949
| Decision Date | 11 January 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-1949,82-1949 |
| Parties | CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, Appellant, v. V.S.H. REALTY, INC., Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James R. Wolf of Caldwell, Pacetti, Barrow & Salisbury, Palm Beach, and James W. Vance, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Gene Moore, Boynton Beach, for appellee.
Appellant, City of Boynton Beach, seeks reversal of a declaratory judgment directing approval of a revised site plan necessary for the issuance of a building permit.
Appellee, the owner of a parcel of property located in the City, submitted an application to the City in order to build a convenience store and two independent commercial retail units on his parcel. Under applicable ordinances, such commercial development is allowed, but issuance of a building permit is conditional upon receiving site plan approval. An original site plan was approved at each level of review, but appellee subsequently submitted a revised site plan that altered the position of the proposed stores with respect to an adjacent residential neighborhood. The revised plan passed several levels of review, but was rejected by the City Council. More than thirty days after the Council's decision and notice thereof, appellant filed the instant suit in the circuit court seeking declaratory judgment. The complaint alleged, in pertinent part, that the City applied its site plan ordinance in an illegal, unwarranted, unconstitutional, arbitrary, and confiscatory fashion, thus depriving appellee of his property rights. Furthermore, the complaint stated that the sole function of the City Council in connection with site plan approval is a ministerial one. The City moved to dismiss the complaint on jurisdictional grounds, contending that review should be by writ of certiorari rather than by a de novo action for declaratory judgment. The trial judge denied the motion and ostensibly proceeded to try the matter as one de novo; yet he refused to allow the City to adduce evidence from a noise expert because that evidence was not submitted to the City when it was considering approval of the site plan. He apparently intended to decide the case based on the record made before the City Council. In any event, the final judgment found that the Council exceeded its ordinance authority because appellee was entitled thereunder to have the City Council approve its amended site plan upon recommendation of the zoning and technical review boards of the City. The trial court thus "instructed and directed [the City Council], based upon the recommendations of the technical and administrative staff, to approve the revised site plan."
The City initially contends that the trial court had no jurisdiction to entertain this action because it involved a quasi-judicial decision reviewable only by petition for writ of certiorari. The trial judge and counsel wrestled mightily with this question and the judge finally ruled that the matter should be considered de novo rather than reviewed by certiorari. We hold that ruling was correct. As pointed out in the leading case of DeGroot v. Sheffield, 95 So.2d 912 (Fla.1957), a judgment or order is judicial or quasi-judicial in nature when notice and a hearing are required and the judgment or order is contingent upon a showing made at the hearing. Further, the court held that the proper way in which to obtain appellate review of such a judgment or order was by certiorari. The decision of the City that is assaulted in this case was not a...
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