Citizens for Thoughtful Growth's Petition for Writ of Certiorari Against City of WPB Granted

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Jan. 14, 2015 - PRLog -- The Law Firm of Critton, Luttier & Coleman, LLP, a West Palm Beach Litigation Law Firm, announced today that attorneys Santo DiGangi and Robert D. Critton, Jr. obtained a precedent-setting victory in the Appellate Division of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit regarding the City of West Palm Beach following its own Zoning Code. The case, 502014CA002127XXXXMB, involves Citizens for Thoughtful Growth (“CTG”), a citizens group challenging the City of West Palm Beach’s procedure in allowing the City Commission to consider an application for rezoning a parcel of land to Residential Planned Development (“RPD”) without the requisite findings by the Planning Board.

The Zoning Code requires a ten (10) acre minimum lot size before a piece of land can be zoned as an RPD. However, the Code allows this minimum lot requirement to be waived if certain findings are made by the Planning Board and the City Commission. The Planning Board voted unanimously (6-0) against the rezoning of a 3.211-acre parcel of land to RPD. Despite the plain language of the Code requiring findings by the Planning Board, the City Commission unanimously (5-0) approved the rezoning to RPD in order to allow a 22-story luxury condominium to be built. The City Attorney advised the Commission during its meeting that the Planning Board was advisory in nature and its findings were not required.

CTG filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari with the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit acting in its appellate capacity and argued that the plain and unambiguous language of the Zoning Code required findings by the Planning Board before a waiver of the 10-acre lot requirement for an RPD can occur. CTG’s position was that the City Commission’s action constituted a departure from the essential requirements of law.

For the first time in over twelve (12) years, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit acting in its appellate capacity granted oral argument to hear this significant legal matter. On December 12, 2014, Critton, Luttier & Coleman attorney DiGangi argued the issue before a three-judge panel against attorneys for both the developer, Elliot Scherker of Greenberg Traurig, and the City, Doug Yeargin. The Court ultimately agreed with CTG and found that the City had violated its own Code by not first obtaining the requisite findings by the Planning Board prior to rezoning the land to RPD.

“This was a critical victory for the citizens of West Palm Beach. Every resident now knows that the Planning Board has an essential role in considering potentially inappropriate applications for large-scale residential planned developments on exceedingly small parcels of land,” DiGangi said. “The City Commission and citizens alike now have a clear understanding of the rules that must be followed in the process.”

This case has far-reaching implications in that the City Commission has for years considered the Planning Board to only be advisory in nature. The opinion recognizes that the Planning Board represents an important step in critically analyzing an application for rezoning and in making the appropriate findings before the application can even go before the City Commission for a vote.

To learn more about the case, please visit http://www.ctgwpb.org and/or https://www.facebook.com/CTGWPB.

About Critton, Luttier & Coleman, LLP
The Law Firm of Critton, Luttier & Coleman is a West Palm Beach Litigation Law Firm focusing on Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury, Auto Accidents, Insurance Bad Faith, Marital & Family Law, Sexual Battery & Assault, RICO, Employment Litigation and Legal Malpractice throughout the state of Florida within Palm Beach, Broward, Dade and Martin Counties including West Palm Beach, Jupiter, Boca Raton, Lake Worth, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Stuart, Port St. Lucie, and the Treasure Coast. The lawyers at Critton, Luttier & Coleman, prides themselves on being trusted advocates to their clients and accomplishes this by building relationships with clients, educating them and representing them with their best interests in mind.

For more information on Critton, Luttier & Coleman Law and/or to contact a lawyer, please visit lawCLC.com. Follow Critton, Luttier & Coleman Law on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CLCLaw and Twitter @CLCLaw (http://twitter.com/#!/bclclaw)Firm.