The Islander News
News of the Week
May 18th, 2000
Click on a story below or
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The Islander News
News of the Week
May 18th, 2000
Click on a story below or
scroll down to read them all...
ASSESSMENTS NO; SEWERS YES
By JOHN LABRIOLA
Key Biscayne voters sent the Village Council a mixed message on Tuesday: go ahead with the sewer project, but give homeowners the chance to approve any special assessment in the future.
Of the island’s 4,294 registered voters, 32.51 percent, or 1,396 people, cast ballots in the special election. Turnout was higher in the Village’s single-family home area than the condominium area.
By a narrow margin of 689 to 617, voters decided to amend the Village charter to prohibit the Council from imposing any special assessments in the future without the approval, by petition or referendum, of a majority of affected homeowners. Village attorneys have said the charter amendment won’t affect assessments for the sewer project because it doesn’t indicate that it is retroactive.
The charter amendment makes Key Biscayne unique. According to Village attorneys, no other municipality in the county places limits on councils’ ability to levy special assessment for project benefitting only a segment of the community.
But voters decided not to repeal an ordinance allowing the Village to take a $7.9 million state loan, with 2.56 percent interest rate, to finance construction of the sewer system for 706 homes on the island now using septic tanks - 820 opposed a repeal and 485 supported it.
Residents also voted against repealing an ordinance that enables the Village to collect special assessments, with 681 voting no and 580 voting yes. The ordinance is needed to allow the Council to go forward with its plan to place a $5,500 special assessment on each of the 706 homes to pay back half the loan and use tax dollars to pay the rest.
JUDGES RULE IN FAVOR OF VILLAGE IN CRANDON MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT
By JOHN LABRIOLA
In a decision hailed by opponents of increased residential development on Key Biscayne, a three-judge state panel last week reinstated an August 1999 Council ruling that prevents construction of a mixed commercial-residential development called Key Colony Village.
“This is a great victory for all of us on Key Biscayne,” said Mayor Joe Rasco. “This allows us to keep our important commitment to making sure we don’t allow any increase in residential density on the island.”
The project had called for shops, offices, restaurants, 42 apartment units and seven townhouses on commercially-zoned property at 200-240 Crandon Boulevard.
In its ruling, the Third District Court of Appeal said the project can’t go forward because the Village master plan doesn’t allow any residential development in commercial districts.“The record demonstrates on its face that the plan for residential townhouses is totally incompatible with the master plan,” the court said.
Developers Fininvest Investments and Tesaurus Holdings will move to challenge the decision.
“We are presently preparing a motion for a rehearing of the case by all 11 judges of the Third District Court of Appeal,” Fininvest President Fritz Scharenberg said in a statement. “We are confident that we will prevail in that effort.”
If the court declines to reverse itself, Fininvest officials say they will appeal to the Florida Supreme Court.
The Key Colony Village project had been approved by a 6-1 Council vote in February 1998 on the condition that a site plan hearing be held on the townhouse portion in the rear of the property facing Fernwood Road.
But support for the project eroded over the next several months, giving way to anti-development sentiment fueled by the rise of massive residential projects like The Ocean Club and Grand Bay, and the fear of additional mixed-use development along Crandon Boulevard.
By the time Fininvest came back with its townhouse plan last summer, that mood was reflected in a new Council. In a unanimous vote, the Council rejected the townhomes, saying they weren’t permitted under the master plan, although the previous Council ruled that the master plan did allow residential uses.
When Fininvest learned that the decision doomed the entire mixed-use project, the firm appealed the decision and won.
In a February ruling, the 11th Circuit Court reversed the Council’s decision, finding that the Village didn’t have the right to revisit the previous Council’s finding on master plan consistency 18 months after the fact. Under Florida law, project opponents had 30 days to challenge the Council ruling.
But in appealing the lower court’s decision to the Third District, the Village argued that the 30-day limit applies only to residents, not to the Council’s ability to reverse its own previous finding.
The court agreed.
“In essence, [the 11th Circuit] held that to ensure compliance with the master plan, the Village of Key Biscayne had to sue itself,” the court said. “That ruling flies in the face of reason, as a party cannot sue itself.”The 11th Circuit had also ruled that the Council violated Fininvest’s due process rights by rejecting the entire project when the developer was expecting a hearing on just the townhouses. But the Third District panel noted that Florida law requires that all projects comply with the master plan and “requiring the developer to do what he is by law obliged to do cannot amount to the denial of due process.”
HIT-AND-RUN DRIVER WALKS OUT OF MENTAL HEALTH HOSPITAL
By DAVID KILMER
Chinwe Copeland, the woman accused of the brutal and bizarre hit and run of an 8 year old Key Biscayne boy, is now a fugitive.
Copeland 21, walked out of a mental health hospital in Plantation on April 23 and has not been seen since.
Copeland was admitted to the mental health institution for psychological evaluation after an incident which occurred at a hearing April 18.
“Apparently, she collapsed to the floor and began speaking in a manner which caused the court to want to make a psychological assessment,” said Don Ungurait, a spokesperson for the State Attorney’s Office.
SEAQUARIUM ABANDONS EXPANSION
By JOHN LABRIOLA
The Miami Seaquarium has abandoned plans for a massive redevelopment project after years of litigation with the Village.
Unveiled a decade ago, the project would have included a 15.7-acre marine park, 6.3-acre water park, 3.8-acre Sunset Village with several restaurants, an 18,000-square foot environmental theater and a boat basin with 30 slips.
ZONING CODE APPROVED BY COUNCIL
The Village Council last week adopted new zoning laws to govern all properties on the island except single-family homes and duplexes.
By a 5-0 vote, with Vice Mayor Martha Fernandez-Leon Broucek and Councilmember Alan Fein absent, the Council approved the new rules to implement the Village’s 1995 master.
The decision ends years of relying on the county’s zoning code to determine such things as how high a building can be or how far a property should be from the swale.
HARDWARE STORE OWNER DROPS LAWSUIT
The Village’s zoning dispute with Key Biscayne hardware store owner Roberto Cambo is over.
Cambo’s attorneys said they would dismiss his lawsuit against the Village after the Council adopted new regulations last week.The new rules limit hours of operation in commercial areas immediately adjacent to single-family districts - areas such as Cambo’s retail corner at 800 Crandon Boulevard. Under the new laws such areas are also prohibited from housing restaurants or liquor establishments.
FOURTH OF JULY HOLIDAY GETS STARTED ON KEY WITH BUTTON PARADE MONDAY
By ORLANDO RODRIGUEZ
Citizens of Key Biscayne , a roving slice of the American Spirit will soon visit your street.
The Key Biscayne 4th of July Parade Committee has organized a mini-parade through the Village on Monday, May 22, at 6 p.m. to sell buttons in support of the hometown parade.
This patriotic caravan will start at the Yacht Club and work its way across Woodcrest Road, Woodcrest Lane, Glennridge Road, West Mashta Drive, Ridgewood Road, and Hampton Lane.
Led by Village police car and a fire rescue vehicle, committee members will go door-to-door in an effort to sell 3,000 commemorative buttons. The music of the Chowder Chompers Marching and Patriotic Band will accompany them.
SERENITY OF HOBIE BEACH HIDES WHAT LURKS IN WATER
By JOHN LABRIOLA
Hobie Beach, rated South Florida’s most popular windsurfer beach in a recent survey, is also the area’s most polluted, according to a year-long experimental of the county’s beach waters.
Since -Since June, the Miami-Dade office of the Florida Department of Health has been testing the water from Golden Beach to Key Biscayne every two weeks for enterococcus, a bacteria normally found in human and animal intestines. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, enterococcus levels are directly related to swimming illness like gastroenteritis, ear infections and, in especially polluted waters, hepatitis.
Of the 21 times the Health Department has tested the beaches, Hobie’s waters rated poor seven times.
The EPA considers a level of 104 enterococcus bacteria per 100 milliliter sample to be poor, and estimates those levels will yield a disease incidence of 19 bathers per thousand.
In one sample taken on November 15, Hobie’s enterococcus count was 2,260 per 100 milliliter, the highest in the state.
