Bal Harbour Village v. City of North Miami

678 So. 2d 356, 1996 WL 180069
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedApril 17, 1996
Docket94-2841
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 678 So. 2d 356 (Bal Harbour Village v. City of North Miami) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bal Harbour Village v. City of North Miami, 678 So. 2d 356, 1996 WL 180069 (Fla. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinion

678 So.2d 356 (1996)

BAL HARBOUR VILLAGE, a municipal corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Florida, Appellant,
v.
CITY OF NORTH MIAMI, a municipal corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Florida, Appellee.

No. 94-2841.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

April 17, 1996.
Rehearing Denied September 11, 1996.

*358 Floyd Pearson Richman Greer Weil Brumbaugh & Russomanno and Gerald F. Richman and Robert J. Borrello, Miami, for appellant.

David M. Wolpin, City Attorney, North Miami, for appellee.

Before SCHWARTZ, C.J.[*], and COPE and GODERICH,* JJ.

COPE, Judge.

Bal Harbour Village appeals a final order dismissing its lawsuit against the City of North Miami. We affirm.

Bal Harbour filed the instant lawsuit against the City of North Miami, seeking to prevent North Miami from building an open-air amphitheater near the shores of Biscayne Bay. Bal Harbour Village is located, at its nearest point, 7,600 feet across Biscayne Bay from North Miami. Concerned primarily about the possibility of excessive noise from the open-air amphitheater, Bal Harbour Village opposed the project. Bal Harbour and North Miami entered into a settlement agreement which established a procedure for assuring that noise emitting from the amphitheater would be controlled at acceptable levels. Thereafter Bal Harbour brought suit, contending that North Miami had breached the settlement agreement. From dismissal of its second amended complaint, Bal Harbour appeals.[1]

I.

On December 8, 1992, the North Miami City Council adopted Ordinance 888, which rezoned a 106-acre tract of land from Public Use (P.U.) to Public Use/Planned Unit Development (P.U./P.U.D) to permit the development of a city-owned performing arts amphitheater facility. The amphitheater will be located east of Biscayne Boulevard between Northeast 135 Street and Northeast 151 Street, near the North Campus of Florida International University. The amphitheater will have a capacity of 26,000 people and parking for up to 4,500 cars. Ordinance 888 also granted a conditional use permit. The facility is to be constructed and operated by Performing Arts Management of North Miami, Inc. ("Operator").

Ordinance 888, the supporting studies, and the agreement with the Operator all address the question of noise standards. Sound leaving the amphitheater is not to exceed the level of 50 decibels. Amplified sound must be directed toward the commercial and industrial areas situated to the northwest of the amphitheater, which is in the opposite direction from Bal Harbour. Ordinance 888 allows the City to establish operational and noise level limitations and performance standards for the amphitheater. Noise monitoring may be conducted by North Miami at the Operator's expense. North Miami reserves the right, in the event the noise standards are not met, to restrict the operating hours of the facility, or to void the conditional use *359 permit. Additionally, the Operator is required to design the amphitheater

so as to be able to structurally enclose the covered seating area in the event that operation of the Facility fails to comply with the sound and noise standards provided pursuant to this ordinance. Operator shall implement the enclosure plan designed as a remedy if and when it has been determined by City (based upon study and advice provided to the City Council by the City's independent Noise Consultant) that all other sound mitigation remedies implemented by Operator have failed to bring the sound into compliance with the terms hereof.

Ordinance 888, § 3.III.G.(3).

Bal Harbour appeared at the North Miami City Council meeting and presented testimony in opposition to the enactment of Ordinance 888. The Ordinance was nonetheless adopted.

II.

On January 7, 1993, Bal Harbour filed a statutory "verified complaint" with North Miami, contending that Ordinance 888 was inconsistent with North Miami's Comprehensive Plan. See generally §§ 163.3161-.3215, Fla.Stat. (1993). Section 163.3215, Florida Statutes, authorizes certain litigants to challenge the consistency of a development order[2] with a city's duly adopted comprehensive plan. Id. § 163.3215(1), (3)(b). Prior to instituting any lawsuit, "the complaining party shall first file a verified complaint with the local government whose actions are complained of setting forth the facts upon which the complaint is based and the relief sought by the complaining party." Id. § 163.3215(4). This "verified complaint" must be filed with the local government "no later than 30 days after the alleged inconsistent action has been taken." Id.

Bal Harbour's timely "verified complaint" asserted that Ordinance 888 had been enacted contrary to the Intergovernmental Coordination Element of North Miami's Comprehensive Plan. Bal Harbour contended that noise from events at the facility would carry across Biscayne Bay and into Bal Harbour, thus adversely affecting the quality of life there. Bal Harbour also expressed concern about adverse environmental impact on Biscayne Bay, which Bal Harbour shares in common with North Miami. Finally, Bal Harbour asserted that the parking requirements for the amphitheater exceeded the threshold for a development of regional impact ("DRI"), see § 380.0651(3)(b)1.a., Fla. Stat., and that the amphitheater project had not undergone the review required for a DRI.[3]

On February 23, 1993, North Miami and Bal Harbour entered into a settlement of their dispute. The settlement was embodied in Resolution No. R93-14 ("the Settlement Resolution"), adopted by the North Miami City Council. The Resolution recited that North Miami had retained independent consultant Dr. Clifford Bragdon to undertake "the necessary noise study and review to assure that the [amphitheater] facility will be designed, built and operated in such a manner as to assure that there will be no adverse noise impact on any residential communities in the vicinity...." The resolution recited that "Bal Harbour Village has retained a noise consultant, Dr. Stanley Dunn, and has authorized Dr. Dunn to participate in the work of Dr. Bragdon as set forth in the Work Plan described by Dr. Bragdon at the meeting of February 8, 1993...." The Settlement Resolution provided in substance that any areas of technical disagreement should be resolved if possible by discussion between Dr. Dunn and Dr. Bragdon. If any technical issues could not be resolved by discussion of the two of them, the issue was then to be resolved if possible "by the binding determination of an independent scientist to be mutually selected by Dr. Dunn and Dr. Bragdon."

*360 Bal Harbour agreed that it would not institute or support any litigation against North Miami "pending completion of the above referenced Noise Study Work or the issuance by the City of North Miami of a building permit for the construction of the Amphitheater Facility...." In return, North Miami recognized that Bal Harbour could file a "verified complaint" under section 163.3215 when North Miami issued a building permit for the amphitheater, and if the "verified complaint" was not resolved, then Bal Harbour could proceed with a lawsuit in accordance with section 163.3215. North Miami further agreed that it would waive any defense that Bal Harbour was estopped, or bound by res judicata, by reason of allowing Ordinance 888 to become final.

In the meantime, other litigants filed lawsuits seeking to stop the amphitheater project. Pichette v.

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Bluebook (online)
678 So. 2d 356, 1996 WL 180069, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bal-harbour-village-v-city-of-north-miami-fladistctapp-1996.