Charnofree Corporation v. City of Miami Beach

76 So. 2d 665
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedDecember 14, 1954
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 76 So. 2d 665 (Charnofree Corporation v. City of Miami Beach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Charnofree Corporation v. City of Miami Beach, 76 So. 2d 665 (Fla. 1954).

Opinion

76 So.2d 665 (1954)

CHARNOFREE CORPORATION, a Florida corporation, and Fontainebleau Hotel Corp., a Florida corporation, Appellants,
v.
CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, a municipal corporation organized and existing under the Laws of the State of Florida, and O.M. Pushkin, as Chief Building Inspector of and for the City of Miami Beach, a municipal corporation organized and existing under the Laws of the State of Florida, Appellees.

Supreme Court of Florida. Division A.

December 14, 1954.
Rehearing Denied January 10, 1955.

*666 Williams, Salomon & Katz, Miami, Sibley & Davis, Miami Beach, and Weldon G. Starry, Tallahassee, for appellants.

Ben Shepard and Bernstein & Hodsdon, Miami, for appellees.

MATHEWS, Justice.

This is a zoning case and involves the property in Miami Beach known as the "Firestone Estate". It first appeared in this Court in the case of City of Miami Beach v. First Trust Company, Fla., 45 So.2d 681.

In the Firestone case the prayer for relief sought to enjoin the defendant City from prohibiting or interfering with the use of land for the building of ocean-front hotels and apartment houses or for any other use or purpose then permitted to the property immediately adjoining it to the south or to any property within Use District RE. The Circuit Court in its order enjoining the City of Miami Beach said:

"C. That plaintiff is entitled to have, and defendant City is lawfully required to permit, any and all of uses of Lot A as are permitted in `Use District RE' and `Area District 15' under said zoning ordinance No. 289.
"D. That the defendant, The City of Miami Beach, its officials, agencies, representatives and employees are hereby permanently enjoined from asserting the validity of said ordinance as it purports to restrict Lot A to `RAA Use District' and to `Area District No. 3,' and from prohibiting or interfering with the use of Lot A for any and all purposes, and in any manner, permitted to and for other property classified under `Use District RE' and `Area District 15' in and by said zoning ordinance." (Underscoring supplied.)

The history of this property is so well set forth in the opinion in City of Miami Beach v. First Trust Company, supra, that it will be unnecessary to relate it here, except to say that the property was originally zoned in the RAA District; that is, single family dwellings which included estates. Under the final decree in the Firestone case property could be used for any purpose set forth in the RE classification.

RE District was a multiple family district. Under this classification the property could be used for hotels with 100 or more guest rooms and could contain business establishments of the BAA classification providing the exterior of the building should not contain store fronts or have the appearance of commercial or mercantile activities or any display of arts, or services, which are visible from the exterior of the building and providing that such business establishments should only be entered from within the building; that is, the hotel. BAA classification permitted any use as set forth in BAAA, therefore, when under and by virtue of the final decree, affirmed by this Court in City of Miami Beach v. First Trust Company, supra, enjoining the use of the property for any use under "Use District RE", included the uses set forth for BAA and BAAA.

The property in question consists of a tract of land lying immediately north of *667 44th Street on Miami Beach and is 700 feet in length along the Atlantic Ocean and approximately 550 feet to 570 feet in depth extending from the ocean to Collins Avenue on the West.

The property was acquired by the Charnofree Corporation on January 4, 1953, from the First Trust Company, which was the complainant in the suit above mentioned. The Fontainebleau Hotel Corporation acquired a 99-year lease from the Charnofree Corporation on December 11, 1953, and thereafter on the 29th of December, 1953, began the erection of a hotel to contain 545 rooms and baths and four 2-bedroom, 2 bath apartment units. This work was commenced upon preliminary plans and a building permit issued by the City to enable the corporation to begin the construction before complete plans were filed.

From the adoption of the Zoning Plan in 1930 until September 5, 1951, Ordinance No. 289 provided that hotels with 100 or more guest rooms might contain business establishments of the "BAA classification provided the stores are not visible outside the building and were entered from within". The BAA classification included the uses permitted in BAAA classification. The permitted uses under Ordinance 289 which included the uses set forth in BAAA contain the following:

"In the `BAAA' Modified Business District, no building or land shall be used and no building shall be hereafter erected, constructed, reconstructed or structurally altered which is designed, arranged, or intended to be used for any purpose, unless otherwise provided for in this ordinance, except for one or more of the following uses:
"1. Any use permitted in the `RE' Multiple-Family District.
"2. Banks.
"3. Modiste, wearing apparel, furriers.
"4. Millinery shops.
"5. Office, including brokerage houses.
"6. Interior decorating, costuming, draperies.
"7. Antique shops.
"8. Jewelry stores.
"9. Furniture stores.
"10. (434) (Item eliminated)
"11. Confectionery and ice cream stores.
"12. Drug stores.
"13. Stationery stores.
"14. Shoe stores.
"15. Sporting goods stores.
"16. Luggage shops.
"17. Sales and show rooms.
"18. Hotels or Apartment Houses with fifty (50) or more guest rooms, may contain or erect in conjunction as accessory buildings, business establishments of the `BAA' classification.
"19. (788) (Item eliminated)
"20. Professional Offices. (572) or other similar enterprises or businesses which are not more obnoxious or detrimental to the welfare of the particular community than the enterprises or businesses above enumerated, provided that this shall not be interpreted to include bars or bar-rooms, or restaurants, except in conjunction with Hotels or Apartment Houses of fifty (50) or more guest rooms."

On September 5, 1951, the City Council of Miami Beach adopted Ordinance 985 which purported to remove from the uses authorized in RE Districts for hotels the right to construct and use stores of the BAA classification and restricted store uses to barber shops, beauty shops, tobacco, magazine, newspaper and drug sundry shops. On August 20, 1952, the Council adopted another ordinance which added cabarets to the permitted uses and on November 4, 1953, the Council adopted Ordinance 1091, which permitted the property to be used for dance studios, dining rooms, restaurant and coffee shops.

*668 On March 8, 1954, the plaintiff offered revised plans for the lower lobby floor of the hotel for approval. The plans showed 22 store spaces which were referred to in a letter of transmittal as intended for use for business uses authorized under the permissive BAA provisions, which existed prior to the adoption of Ordinance 985 on September 5, 1951.

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Bluebook (online)
76 So. 2d 665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/charnofree-corporation-v-city-of-miami-beach-fla-1954.