PARK OF COMMERCE ASSOCIATES, ETC., PETITIONER,
v.
CITY OF DELRAY BEACH, ET AL., RESPONDENTS

Fla. | 1994-03-31
No. 80973
BARKETT, C.J., and OVERTON, McDonald, SHAW, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur.
636 So. 2d 12 Florida Supreme Court (1994) Caution
Cited by 31 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

The Florida Supreme Court clarified that municipal site plan and development decisions are quasi-judicial actions subject to certiorari review, not legislative actions subject to de novo review. The Court overruled prior precedent holding such decisions to be legislative and approved the Fourth District Court's reversal of the trial court's de novo review of the City of Delray Beach's site plan denial.


Holding

The Court held that site plan decisions are quasi-judicial actions subject to certiorari review limited to the record before the administrative body, not de novo review. The Court declined to answer the second certified question but approved the district court's clarification that the en banc receding from prior precedent applied only to the site plan issue while the buyback judgments were affirmed on independent contract grounds.


Headnotes

[1] Decisions of local governments on building permits, site plans, and other development orders are quasi-judicial in nature and subject to certiorari review.

[2] Quasi-judicial actions by local governments impact a limited number of persons or property owners, are contingent on facts presented at a hearing, and involve policy appl…

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Key Quotes

“[Rjezoning actions which have an impact on a limited number of persons or property owners, on identifiable parties and interests, where the decision is contingent on a fact or facts arrived at from distinct alternatives presented at a hearing, and where the decision can be functionally viewed as policy application, rather than policy setting, are in the nature of ... quasi-judicial action”

The test from Snyder establishing when municipal decisions are quasi-judicial and subject to certiorari review

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Facts & Procedural History

Park of Commerce contracted to sell a three-acre parcel to Land Resources, which planned to build a Florida Power & Light customer service center. The…

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Opinion of the Court
HARDING, Justice.

HARDING, Justice.

We have for review Park of Commerce v. City of Delray Beach, 606 So. 2d 633 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992), in which the district court, in a separate order, certified two questions of great public importance:

I. WHETHER CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH V. V.S.H. REALTY, INC., 443 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984) AS RELIED UPON IN THIS COURT’S NOVEMBER 18, 1992, EN BANC OPINION, ACCURATELY STATES THE LAW CONCERNING APPELLATE REVIEW OF DECISIONS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ON BUILDING PERMITS, SITE PLANS AND OTHER DEVELOPMENT ORDERS.

II. WHETHER THIS COURT’S AF-FIRMANCE OF THREE CASES BASED ON CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH V. V.S.H. REALTY, INC., AND THE SIMULTANEOUS REVERSAL OF ONE CASE BASED ON AN OVERRULING OF CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH V. V.S.H. REALTY, INC. CONSTITUTES A CORRECT APPLICATION OF THE EN BANC REVIEW PROCESS.

We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const. We answer the first question in the negative and decline to answer the second question for the reasons set forth below.

Land Resources Investment Company (Land Resources) entered into a contract to purchase a-three-acre parcel of land in the City of Delray Beach from Park of Commerce Associates (Park of Commerce). Paragraph 13 of the second addendum to the contract provided in part:

That if Buyer closes this transaction and is subsequently (within 180 days of closing) refused a City of Delray Beach building permit or site plan approval because the City or some other government agency having jurisdiction declares or decrees that access from some other public street (other than S.W. 22nd Avenue/S.W. 29th Street) is a condition precedent to any building permits issuance, the Buyer may elect to resell the property to the Seller, and Seller agrees that it shall repurchase the same at the same gross purchase price as this transaction.... Such repurchase shall be concluded within thirty (30) days from and after Buyer’s election to resell property to Seller. The three-acre tract was part of a twenty-five-aere tract that previously had been approved for unified development upon assurances by Park of Commerce that there would be no access from the tract onto S.W. 22nd Avenue/S.W. 29th Street. Land Resources planned to build a Florida Power & Light customer service center on the site, which was a use consistent with the comprehensive plan and with the zoning classification of “planned office center.” In addition, the three-acre parcel was platted specifically for the construction of the customer service center with access onto S.W. 22nd Avenue/S.W. 29th Street.

The Delray Beach City Council rejected Land Resources’ site plan because of neighborhood opposition to commercial traffic on a street that abutted the parcel. Land Resources and Park of Commerce, asserting that the City Council’s decision was quasi-judicial in nature, sought certiorari appellate review in circuit court. The city opposed the limited certiorari review, arguing that the Council’s action was legislative in nature and required de novo review. In addition to seeking review in the circuit court, Land Resources brought an action against Park of Commerce for declaratory relief and specific performance of the contract.

The trial court determined that the City Council’s decision rejecting the site plan was quasi-legislative and granted de novo review. During the de novo review, the court considered evidence that had not been presented to the City Council. The trial court concluded that the City Council denied the site plan solely because of unacceptable access from a nearby road. The court found this reason for denial erroneous as a matter of law. The court found that although the twenty-five-acre tract was intended to be developed as a unified whole, the city, by platting the three-acre parcel, waived and was estopped from imposing the nonaccess requirement of the unified plan for development of the twenty-five acres as a condition of the three-acre site plan approval. Nonetheless, the court upheld the City Council’s denial on other grounds that the city raised for the first time at the de novo trial.1

Land Resources’ action for declaratory judgment and specific performance against Park of Commerce was consolidated with the review of the site plan. The trial court found that the terms of the contract between the parties required Park of Commerce to repurchase the three-acre parcel. (The city was not a party to the contract dispute.)

Land Resources later brought an action against Park of Commerce for failure to repurchase the land according to the judgment granting specific performance and declaratory relief. The trial court awarded Land Resources $740,665.52, which was the original purchase price (including prejudgment interest), plus twelve percent annual interest.

Land Resources also brought a separate action against Park of Commerce for attorney’s fees. The trial court awarded attorney’s fees to Land Resources.

Park of Commerce and Land Resources appealed the trial court judgment upholding the city’s denial of the site plan application to the Fourth District Court of Appeal. They argued that the circuit court should have conducted certiorari review limited to matters presented during the administrative proceedings. In addition, Park of Commerce appealed the three judgments relating to the buyback. The district court consolidated the appeals.

A district court panel rendered a per cu-riam (PCA) opinion affirming the four trial court judgments. The opinion cited City of Boynton Beach v. V.S.H. Realty, Inc., 443 So. 2d 452 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984), as authority for its decision. In Boynton Beach the Fourth District Court held that a city council’s decision about a site plan is a legislative activity that is properly reviewed in a de novo proceeding in circuit court.2 In the case under review, Judge Anstead dissented from the PCA opinion because he found that under City of Lauderdale Lakes v. Corn, 427 So. 2d 239 (Fla. 4th DCA 1983), certiorari is the correct standard of review for a site plan decision because such a decision is quasi-judicial. In a specially concurring opinion, Judge Stone wrote that he would agree with the dissenting opinion, but felt bound by Boynton Beach.

The Fourth District Court subsequently granted an en banc rehearing and resolved the conflict between Boynton Beach and Com. The court adopted the Com position that a city council acts in a quasi-judicial manner when it reviews a proposed site plan that is in accord with the city’s zoning laws. It found that the Delray Beach City Council’s decision was quasi-judicial, so it required certiorari review limited to the matters presented during the administrative proceedings. The court reversed the circuit court and remanded the case for further proceedings.

The en bane opinion did not refer to the buyback judgments. Land Resources moved for clarification and rehearing, arguing that the en banc decision about site plan review did not affect the independent buyback judgments in favor of Land Resources. The Fourth District Court later issued a clarification holding that the en banc opinion over ruled the panel decision only on the site plan issue. Park of Commerce, 606 So. 2d at 636. The Fourth District Court did not allow further rehearing, but, subsequently, on Park of Commerce’s motion, certified two questions to this Court.

CERTIFIED QUESTION I.

. Both parties acknowledge that the issue raised in the first certified question has been resolved by this Court’s decision in Board of County Commissioners v. Snyder, 627 So .2d 469 (Fla.1993). In Snyder the Court was confronted with whether a county commission’s decision that denied a rezoning application was quasi-judicial or quasi-legislative in nature. In resolving the issue, we approved the language of the district court when it said:

[Rjezoning actions which have an impact on a limited number of persons or property owners, on identifiable parties and interests, where the decision is contingent on a fact or facts arrived at from distinct alternatives presented at a hearing, and where the decision can be functionally viewed as policy application, rather than policy setting, are in the nature of ... quasi-judicial action....

Snyder, 627 So. 2d at 474 (quoting Snyder v. Board of County Comm’rs, 595 So. 2d 65, 78 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991)). Under that language, a city council’s denial of a site plan was quasi-judicial action that was properly reviewed by petition for certiorari. The City of Delray Beach urges this Court to recede from its ruling in Snyder. We decline to do so. Because the site review plan that the Delray Beach City Council denied meets the characteristics set out in Snyder, the plan was properly reviewed by certiorari. No legislative discretion was involved in determining whether the property owner complied with regulations set out in a local ordinance. See Park of Commerce, 606 So. 2d at 635.

Therefore, we answer the first certified question in the negative. Corn, not Boynton Beach, accurately states the law concerning appellate review of decisions of local governments on building permits, site plans, and other development orders. These local government decisions are quasi-judicial in nature and thus subject to certiorari review by the courts.3

CERTIFIED QUESTION II.

We decline to answer the second certified question and approve the district court’s opinion on motion for rehearing and clarification. The district court’s panel decision was a PCA opinion affirming all four trial court judgments on authority of Boynton Beach, which held that the site plan approval process was legislative in nature. The district court’s en banc opinion receded from Boyn-ton Beach and held that the site plan approval process is judicial in nature. Park of Commerce, 606 So. 2d at 634. On clarification, the district court limited the holding of the en banc opinion to the site review issue and left standing the PCA opinion that affirmed the buyback judgments. Id. at 636. This created confusion because the PCA panel opinion cited Boynton Beach as authority for affirming all four trial court judgments, but the en banc opinion receded from Boynton Beach. We also find the second certified question confusing.

While the district court’s language has created uncertainty about why the court reached its result — particularly on the buyback issues — we nonetheless approve the district court’s opinion affirming the judgments relating to the repurchase provisions of the contract. The final judgment requiring Park of Commerce to repurchase the land, which is the judgment upon.which the subsequent judgments for money damages and attorney’s fees were based, clearly rules on any issue for which we would remand. The trial court specifically found the conditions precedent had been met for the repurchase provisions of the contract to become effective. In addition, the trial court found that because Land Resources had joined in the case against the city seeking review of the City Council’s action, it was not estopped from asserting its right to compel the repurchase provision of the contract. These findings were made independently of the form of review the trial court used.

Thus, we decline to answer the second certified question, but we approve the district court’s en banc decision and its decision on motion for rehearing and clarification.

It is so ordered.

BARKETT, C.J., and OVERTON, McDonald, SHAW, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur. . The trial court ruled that the city’s rejection of the three-acre site plan was fairly debatable because of adverse traffic impact and an inadequate drainage plan.

. Boynton Beach does not address the buyback issues in the consolidated case, but it is the only case the Fourth District Court of Appeal cited in affirming the circuit court decisions.

. Provided the development orders fall within the description contained in Snyder. See 627 So. 2d at 474.


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Citator

Cited By (16 total)

  • Broward Cnty. v. G.B.V. Int'l, Ltd., 787 So. 2d 838 (Fla. 2001)
    …g: (1) It granted certiorari; (2) it quashed the order of the circuit court; and (3) it remanded for entry of an order directing the County to approve the plat at ten units per acre. . See generally Park of Commerce Assocs. v. City of Delray Beach, 636 So. 2d 12, 15 (Fla.1994) (“Corn, not Boynton Beach, accurately states the law concerning appellate review of decisions of local governments on building permits, site plans, and other development orders. These local government decisions are quasi-judicial in n…
  • Peterson v. State, 775 So. 2d 376 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
    …). . In addition, the Florida Supreme Court has, at conferences, suggested that we should be selective. See also Zellars v. State, 725 So. 2d 1105 (Fla.1999)(declining to review certified question); Park of Commerce Assocs. v. City of Delray Beach, 636 So. 2d 12 (Fla.1994)(declining to review second of two certified questions). . We mention invalidity because it seems that in every case in which we hold a statute invalid the losing party asks us to certify a question. Because supreme court review is mandat…
  • City OF Coconut Creek v. City OF Deerfield Beach, 840 So. 2d 389 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003)
    …o comply was not based on [*395] any action or inaction by Deerfield Beach, which timely raised the defect. Finally, it is well-settled that traditional site plan review is a quasi-judicial act. See Park of Commerce Assocs. v. City of Delray Beach, 636 So. 2d 12, 15 (Fla.1994). Consequently, review other than on a consistency challenge is limited to certiorari, and the trial court properly dismissed counts II and III. See id.; Educ. Dev. Ctr., Inc. v. Palm Beach County, 721 So. 2d 1240, 1241 (Fla. 4th DCA 1…

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