Mount Sinai Medical Center of Greater Miami, Inc. v. City of Miami Beach

706 F. Supp. 1525, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4271, 1989 WL 14670
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Florida
DecidedJanuary 30, 1989
Docket89-0087-CIV.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 706 F. Supp. 1525 (Mount Sinai Medical Center of Greater Miami, Inc. v. City of Miami Beach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Mount Sinai Medical Center of Greater Miami, Inc. v. City of Miami Beach, 706 F. Supp. 1525, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4271, 1989 WL 14670 (S.D. Fla. 1989).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SCOTT, District Judge.

Plaintiff Mount Sinai Medical Center of Greater Miami, Inc. (Mt. Sinai) seeks a temporary injunction prohibiting Defendant City of Miami Beach (City) from enforcing Zoning Ordinance 1891, Section 6-14A & B, as interpreted by Opinion No. 88-30 issued by the City Attorney on November 8, 1988. Plaintiff seeks this relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 1 claiming that (a) the City deprived Mount Sinai of its property rights without due process of law and (b) the City violated equal protection. Plaintiff also asserts that the City is estopped from enforcing the ordinance. 2 The City opposes the relief. Following appropriate notice, an emergency hearing occurred on Mt. Sinai’s application for temporary injunction on January 20 and 23, 1989. Both parties were provided a full and fair opportunity to offer evidence and argument. These findings and conclusions follow pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 52(a).

I.

BACKGROUND

Mt. Sinai is a non-profit health care provider located in the City of Miami Beach, Florida. The City of Miami Beach is a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of Florida.

In August, 1988, Mt. Sinai applied for a building permit to construct a multi-story structure adjacent to the existing hospital facilities. The application stated that it was for a “staff tower and diagnostic clinic.” On August 16, 1988, Mt. Sinai was issued a building permit by the City. Based upon receipt of its building permit, Mt. Sinai entered into binding contracts for *1527 the construction of the staff tower. Mt. Sinai began to negotiate with its medical staff to rent office space in the tower.

Mt. Sinai is located on land zoned “RH Hospital District.” The City’s Zoning Ordinance 1891, in Section 6-14A & B, defines the permitted uses of land zoned RH Hospital District. Section 6-14(B)(2) provides that permitted use within a zoned hospital district, in addition to the hospital, includes:

Accessory hospital facilities, consisting of laundry, centralized services, educational and research facilities, recreational facilities, staff offices, parking structures and lots. (Emphasis provided.)

That section further provides that such appurtenant structures must be “subordinate to the main use and must be an integral part of hospital operations.”

On November 8, 1988, the.City Attorney of Miami Beach issued Opinion No. 88-30, interpreting City of Miami Beach Zoning Ordinance 1891. The City Attorney opined that “staff offices” as used in the zoning ordinance means that “only physicians employed full-time by a hospital within the RH District may have office space within the hospital.” The basis of the opinion was that other physicians are not “an integral part of hospital operations.”

The City has advised Mt. Sinai that the staff office under construction may only be occupied in a manner consistent with the City Attorney’s opinion letter. The City did not provide Mt. Sinai with an opportunity to challenge the opinion letter through hearing or appeal.

II.

TESTIMONY

At the evidentiary hearing, Mt. Sinai called four witnesses: Fred Hirt, Leonard Abess, Jr., Gary Gerson and David Paul. The City responded with three witnesses: Michael Saclarides, Joe Grant and Rob Par-kins. We review their testimony in light of our role as fact-finder. 3

Fred Hirt is President of Mt. Sinai Medical Center and chief executive officer. He has an extensive background in hospital administration. Hirt offered the major testimony for the Plaintiff.

The staff tower has been a long term project of Mt. Sinai. Its construction is an integral part of a plan to make Mt. Sinai into a major teaching hospital with operating ties to the University of Miami School of Medicine. Acquiring and keeping a topflight medical staff is essential to the success of this plan. Good doctors insist on having close access to treatment facilities, patients, medical students and other doctors. This is the purpose behind placing the staff tower adjacent to the hospital and housing the medical staff in one compact unit.

The opinion letter is a complete obstacle to this plan. The City Attorney’s interpretation of Zoning Ordinance 1891 means that only physicians who are full-time employees of the hospital may occupy space in the staff tower. Physicians who are on Mt. Sinai’s staff as credentialed doctors, but who are not full-time employees of the hospital, cannot occupy space in the staff tower. The latter group encompasses the vast majority of physicians associated with the hospital.

As a result of the City’s interpretation of Zoning Ordinance 1891, Mt. Sinai cannot obtain permanent construction funding from a lending institution. Moreover, the hospital cannot lease space in the tower because physicians who are not full-time employees understandably will not negotiate until the zoning question is resolved. This situation has created an urgent problem for Mt. Sinai.

The hospital has spent six million dollars to date on the staff tower. The funding has come from the hospital’s working capital, because permanent funding has not been forthcoming. As a result, other hospital projects may suffer cut-backs. One *1528 such project is free medical care to the indigent, poor and aging of Miami Beach.

Hirt testified that Mt. Sinai provides one-third (34%) of all free medical care in Dade County, excluding the county financed Jackson Memorial Hospital. Additionally, Mt. Sinai is the source of 95% of all free medical care on Miami Beach. Without obtaining immediate permanent financing, the hospital cannot continue to provide these free medical services to the community. David Paul, Chairman of Centrust Bank and a leading civic leader in health care, agreed with Hirt’s assessment of the “devastating effect on health care in Dade County,” if Mt. Sinai were to close its doors to indigent patients.

Gary Gerson is a certified public accountant and Chairman of the Board of Mt. Sinai. He agreed with Hirt that six million dollars had been spent on the staff tower. Gerson testified that if permanent financing is not obtained for the tower project, the hospital’s only alternative is to cut free medical care.

Gerson and Leonard Abess, Jr., Chairman of City National Bank, discussed financing this project. Abess told Gerson that he would attempt to arrange the permanent financing. However, as a condition to the financing, the City’s interpretation of Zoning Ordinance 1891 must be rescinded. This remains the only stumbling block to City National’s funding.

One critical piece of testimony remains to be discussed. Mt. Sinai’s decision to commence this project was predicated upon the knowledge that two other hospitals on Miami Beach have similar staff towers.

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Bluebook (online)
706 F. Supp. 1525, 1989 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4271, 1989 WL 14670, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mount-sinai-medical-center-of-greater-miami-inc-v-city-of-miami-beach-flsd-1989.