Does Homestead Have Any Prolonged Litigation Issues?
No Need To Answer, That Query Was Rhetorical.
By Howard Cohen
hcohen@MiamiHerald.com
Several Palmetto Bay residents, angered at what they see as prolonged and costly litigation over a private school’s right to expand and a new four-month moratorium on development they feel targets private schools and churches, have mounted a recall effort to remove the mayor and two council members from office.
Mayor Shelley Stanczyk, Council member Joan Lindsay and Vice Mayor Brian Pariser are named in the recall movement spearheaded by David Singer, a chief executive officer for Berkowitz Development Group, attorney J.B. Harris, and Dave Zisman, a business owner and Palmetto Bay mayoral candidate in 2010 who was defeated by Stanczyk.
Since the recall process, which follows Florida Statutes, contains multiple steps, including the initial gathering and then verification of signatures from 10 percent of the registered voters of the municipality, in this case about 1,500, the earliest this item could be placed on a ballot, if it meets all the statutes, would be after the new year.
As such, the recall effort targeting Pariser is largely window-dressing since he is running for re-election in November and voters will be able to decide then whether he should serve another term in office.
“I think it’s just a symptom of the campaign season and that it really has no basis,” Pariser said Friday afternoon.
“The people of Palmetto Bay voted to separate from the county so that we could make our own decisions and control the future of our village,” Stanczyk said Friday. “As mayor, I face challenges and respond by weighing the issues. This includes listening to our residents express their concerns over the direction of growth and development in their residential community. I have done the best I can for our residents, always keeping in mind why we incorporated, the best interests of our community as a whole, and the future ramifications of decisions, always mindful of our village code and state statutes.”
Lindsay also believes, as does Pariser, that the timing of the recall is pegged to an election year. “I was elected by the people of Palmetto Bay on a platform that focused on residents’ quality of life, and I have honored that pledge in both my actions and my voting record while following the law,” she said Thursday.
“The voters know I have served our community for almost 40 years as a teacher and as their council woman. I have always made myself available to all, respected people’s differences, and behaved in a professional and dignified manner. This recall is a divisive effort to gain political advantage in the upcoming election. It is time for us to work together for all Palmetto Bay residents.”
Majority vote
The three were singled out because they have functioned as the majority 3-2 vote in fighting the school, voting to appeal court decisions, and voting in favor of Lindsay’s “neighborhood protection” moratorium on building permits for nonresidential uses in residential neighborhoods so that the village can work on revising its rules on noise, buffers, light and construction dust to preserve neighborhoods.
“While Stanczyk, Lindsay and Pariser have succeeded in ripping the social fabric of Palmetto Bay by targeting Palmer at the taxpayers’ expense, their doing so has galvanized public opinion against them to the point where a hue and cry is being raised for their recall or resignation,” Harris said.
Recall meeting
About 30 residents turned out Tuesday night for a meeting at Zisman’s home to select committee members and to hear from attorney Jean Olin, who worked as a special counsel for Miami Beach, for her advice on how to legally mount a recall.
On Wednesday, at a public meeting, Village Attorney Eve Boutsis announced that Palmetto Bay had abandoned its six-year fight to limit Palmer Trinity’s expansion plans in a residential neighborhood by agreeing not to appeal a Third District Court of Appeal ruling.
That strongly-worded July 5 decision found that the village had acted either from "wishful thinking" or "more likely a willful disobedience" to previous judicial instructions. Since the legal fight began in 2006, the village has spent about $600,000 on legal fees. Palmetto Bay council members must also now decide what to do about a court order that orders the village to pay the school’s attorneys’ fees, which could total more than $300,000. Also still pending, Palmer Trinity’s separate lawsuit seeking up to $13 million in lost tuition and other costs allegedly created by the village’s decisions.
On Thursday, Palmer Trinity’s board chairman, Joseph Kalbac Jr., released a statement that said the school intended to collect, despite the Wednesday action that ended the appeal. “It is time that the village and
Concerned Citizens of Old Cutler Inc. (CCOCI) seriously attempt to settle the pending claims for costs, attorney’s fees and other damages. We hope all involved can avoid further expensive litigation and finally put this behind us.”
Dropping the appeal also didn’t sway Singer, who is committed to the recall.
“Didn’t change anything for me. I don’t think the fact they ended the litigation against Palmer will stop the recall; I don’t think it’ll cause momentum to decrease one bit,” he said. “The problem is these people don’t represent the majority of Palmetto Bay residents. They represent the condo association commandos. That’s basically what they are.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/20/v-fullstory/2904585/palmetto-bay-residents-debate.html#storylink=cpy
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