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M M M <br />The Key phrase in Excerpt #4 is "legislative discretion." (Emphasis supplied). As noted in <br />the analysis of Excerpt #1, the fact that the Board has no legislative discretion does not mean the <br />Board has no discretion, but rather that it does have judicial discretion. <br />This raises the question of what amount of discretion is properly exercised by the Board <br />in its quasi-judicial capacity. The Delray Beach case was upheld by the supreme court as in line <br />with Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County v. Snyder, 627 So.2d 469 (Fla. 1993), <br />therefore Delray Beach means that the degree of discretion described in Synder (specifically at p. <br />475 of the opinion) applies to site plan reviews. This discretionary language in Synder basically <br />says that where the landowner's proposal is reasonable under local regulations (i.e., consistent <br />with the local development plan), but "the Board action is also consistent with the plan," then no <br />property right of the landowner is infringed by denying the landowner's proposal. The same <br />degree of discretion is applicable here. So long as the Commissioners action in denying the site <br />plan is consistent with any one relevant provision in the LDRs, no property right of the applicant <br />has been taken. <br />All we are asking the Commissioners to do is to review the site plan for the Sea Mist <br />Shoppes for consistency with all provisions of the LDR's and disallow the proposed configuration <br />(size) and site layout sought by the applicant. In Synder the Board had discretion to limit their <br />approval of a rezoning request to within a specified number of different zoning districts, here, the <br />Board has discretion to limit their approval to a smaller (down sized) site plan and accordingly, <br />to deny the proposed site plan because it is not consistent with the relevant provisions of the <br />LDRs (the size of the use is not consistent with the definition of the CL district, the use devalues <br />surrounding property, the size of the use is not compatible with surrounding properties, the <br />second median cut is not authorized and the traffic analysis failed to address certain key factors). <br />5. "When the public entity ... conducts site plan ... review, it merely applies <br />established rules of law to existing and uncontested facts." (City of Delray Beach) <br />The point of this excerpt is that the Board should apply "established rules of law," as <br />opposed to "unreasonably" denying approval (Excerpt #2) or deciding based merely "upon the <br />whim or caprice of the public body involved" (Excerpt #3). We agree with this requirement and <br />direct you to the LDRs cited above for the "established rules of law" that the Board is to follow. <br />6. ". . . the authority of a town to deny the land owner the right to develop his <br />property by refusing to approve the plat of such development is, by statute, made <br />to rest upon the specific standards of a statute or implementing ordinances. <br />Thereafter, the approval or disapproval of the plat on the basis of controlling <br />standards becomes an administrative act." (City of Coral Springs) <br />7. "It is elementary that once a party complies with all legal requirements for platting <br />there is no discretion in governmental authority to refuse approval of the plat." <br />(City of Coral Springs) <br />These Excerpts are taken together because they are subject to the same analysis I raised <br />in Excerpt #3 above. This is not a "plat approval" issue. By bringing in this case it is a source of <br />needless confusion for the Board. <br />Although I disagree with the appropriateness of this case, I find it interesting that you did <br />not include the Court's decision which was to uphold two out of the three disputed requirements <br />placed on the plat. <br />The Coral Springs court opined: <br />The petitioner's position is that all legal requirements were met inasmuch as the <br />city commission's additional requirements were not properly promulgated <br />standards and therefore were not legal. Respondent city points out the existence <br />of certain standards made applicable by virtue of its home rule powers, in . <br />addition to the landscape standard contained in a city ordinance applicable to <br />condition one. See section 166.02, Florida Statutes (1983). <br />96 kOX 912-1 T-'Atf.8,70 <br />July 12, 1994 <br />