7/12/1994 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

M When enacting the comprehensive plan and initial LDRs the Board acts as a legislative body subject to the deferential "fairly debatable" rule. When reviewing .site plan issues, however, the Board is acting as a quasi-judicial body. This means that there must be competent, substantial evidence for every required finding, and that the decision of the Board must be based on whether the applicant has met the requirements of existing law. It would not be appropriate to consider what the law should be (That would be a legislative decision). A county cannot unreasonably withhold site plan approval once the legislatively adopted existing legal requirements have been met. The following excerpts from controlling court cases may assist the Board in understanding the review standards: CASE EXCERPTS 1. " . . . the function of a . . . commission is reviewing a property owner's proposed site plan for development of the owner's property in accord with the city zoning laws was not legislative in nature, but rather administrative [i.e., quasi-judicial]." (City of Delray Beach) 2. " . . . a city cannot unreasonably withhold approval [of a site plan] once the legislatively adopted legal requirements have been met." (City of Delray Beach) 3. "All persons similarly situated should be able to obtain plat approval upon meeting uniform standards. Otherwise the official approval of a plat application would depend upon the whim or caprice of the public body involved." (City of Delray Beach) 4. "The administrative procedure for site plan approval is quasi-judicial in nature, and conducted to factually determine if a proposed site plan submitted by the property owner conforms to the specific requirements set out in the administrative -regulations governing the erection of improvements on the property . . . Those conditions should be set out in clearly stated regulations. Compliance with those regulations should be capable of objective determination in an administrative proceeding. While the burden may be on the property owner to demonstrate compliance, no legislative discretion is. involved in resolving the issue of compliance." (City of Delray Beach) S. "When the public entity conducts site plan . . . review, it merely applies_ established rages of law to existing and uncontested facts." (City of Delray Beach) 6. " . . . the authority of a town to deny the land owner the right to develop his property by refusing to approve the plat of such development is, by statute, made to rest upon the specific standards of a statute or implementing ordinances. Thereafter, the approval or disapproval of the plat on the basis of controlling standards becomes an administrative act." (City of Coral Springs) 7. "It is elementary that once a party complies with all legal requirements for platting there is no discretion in governmental authority to refuse approval of the plat." (City of Coral Springs) S. "Section 14 of the Broward County Plat Act . . . provides that such approval may be 'subject to such conditions as the governing body 56 MDK 92 fAu July 12, 1994