Metropolitan Dade County v. Dusseau

• Decision Date: 17 December 1998
• Docket Number: No. 98-1612 | 98-1611.
• Citation: 725 So.2d 1169
• Parties: METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS and University Baptist Church, Inc., Petitioners, v. Charles DUSSEAU, et al., Respondents.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

725 So.2d 1169

METROPOLITAN DADE COUNTY, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS and University Baptist Church, Inc., Petitioners, v. Charles DUSSEAU, et al., Respondents.

Nos. 98--1611.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

December 17, 1998.

Rehearing Denied March 10, 1999.

Robert A. Ginsburg, County Attorney, and Augusto E. Maxwell, Assistant County Attorney, for petitioner Metropolitan Dade County.

Bilzin Sumberg Dunn Price & Axelrod, Stanley B. Price, Eileen Ball Mehta, and Michael W. Larkin, Miami; Steel Hector & Davis and Alvin B. Davis, Miami, for petitioner University Baptist Church.

Shubin & Bass and Jeffrey S. Bass, Miami, for respondents.

Before NESBITT, GERSTEN and GODERICH, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The petitioners, University Baptist Church, Inc. [UBC] and Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners [Commission], seek a writ of certiorari quashing the decision of the Circuit Court, Appellate Division, which reversed the Commission's approval of UBC's zoning application. We grant the petition.

UBC owns 19.7 acres of land that is zoned EU1 (Single Family One Acre Estate District). Under Miami-Dade County land use regulations, churches are permitted as a special exception in areas that are zoned EU1. In November 1996, UBC applied for a special exception to permit the construction of a church on the property. The floor plan that was submitted consisted of a sanctuary, fellowship hall, Sunday School, and administrative space. The application also sought an unusual use approval for a day care center and a sewer lift station.

Initially, the Zoning and Planning Departments were unsatisfied with the site plan. However, after extensive revision of the site plan, the Zoning Division found that UBC's application was compatible with the existing neighborhood and recommended approval. The Planning Division also found that the proposed church was in compliance with the Miami-Dade County Code, consistent with the Comprehensive Development Master Plan, and compatible with the surrounding area. Further, the Department of Environmental Resources Management recommended approval of the application as long as the natural forest community was preserved, to which UBC agreed. The Public Works Department, the Water and Sewer Authority, the Fire Department, the Metro-Dade Transit Agency, the School Board, the Solid Waste Department, the Parks Department, the Public Safety Department, and the Aviation Department also recommended approval of the application.

On December 4, 1996, the County's Zoning Appeals Board denied the application without prejudice. Thereafter, UBC filed its appeal to the Commission.

The Commission heard UBC's appeal on February 20, 1997. During the hearing, UBC explained that all the county agencies that examined the application, including the Zoning Department and Planning Department, recommended approval of the application. Further, UBC presented evidence that indicated that the project complied with or exceeded the Miami-Dade County Code, was consistent with the Comprehensive Development Master Plan, and was compatible with the surrounding area. Other experts...