Thursday, August 11, 2016

City of Lake Worth Wins in court on Gulfstream Height Amendment - The Will of the People is Moot

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Court rules in favor of Lake Worth’s Gulfstream Hotel project

August 11, 2016 – Lake Worth, Fla. - The City of Lake Worth has prevailed in defending the zoning of the Gulfstream Hotel.

The three-judge Appellate Panel of the Circuit Court unanimously issued a ruling that states: “The Petition for Writ of Certiorari is DENIED.”

The decision is the Court’s rejection of an effort that would have resulted in thwarting the revitalization of the Gulfstream Hotel and the 12-block surrounding area known as Lake Worth’s Hotel District.

In February, the City was challenged by three citizens about whether construction of a 65-ft new building expansion of the Gulfstream Hotel was in compliance with Downtown height limits.

The ruling, allows the $70 million project, owned by Hudson Holdings, to move forward with their construction.

City of Lake Worth Mayor Pam Triolo said she is thankful for Judges’ decision.

“This community has longed for the reopening of our beautiful, historic hotel and this decision now clears the way,” said Mayor Triolo.

“The Gulfstream Hotel will revitalize the community and serve as a catalyst in our Downtown, to bring in much-needed tourism for our businesses and great lodging for the friends and relatives of our residents.”

Located in central Palm Beach County, Lake Worth is a dynamic, multi-cultural city with an individualistic style. People are drawn to the city by its acceptance of different cultures and lifestyles, historic districts, hip downtown and colorful arts

24 comments:

Lynn Anderson said...

Great. We should no longer have any excuses from Hudson Holdings.

Anonymous said...

Zika will halt that tourism

Anonymous said...

The lawsuit never had a hope of succeeding - It was a case of civil disobedience by our former Commissioner.
The 3 that filed the suit knew that from the get go.
So, here we are.
HH, hope you prove these guys wrong in their opinion of your project !

Lynn Anderson said...

It was NOT a case of civil disobedience. Where do you dream up this crap?
The people went out on a Charter Referendum and won by 57% of the vote. This Trio commission could have honored the vote of the people. they didn't. They came up with some new law after the fact. The TRIO willingly got sucked into developer interests again over the will of the people.
It is a damn shame. And what's worse, they keep winning.

i vote said...

FY pam! YOU have NO respect for the people you represent. I would never vote for you ever again, ever. Do you even live in Lake Worth anymore yourself pam?


City of Lake Worth Mayor Pam Triolo said she is thankful for Judges’ decision.

“This community has longed for the reopening of our beautiful, historic hotel and this decision now clears the way,” said Mayor Triolo.

“The Gulfstream Hotel will revitalize the community and serve as a catalyst in our Downtown, to bring in much-needed tourism for our businesses and great lodging for the friends and relatives of our residents.”

Robert said...

But they will all go down in disgrace someday soon like mark foley did if they want respect, they need to give and show it, they don't and they are an unethical bunch. ALL people know that they are disgraceful, they will go down in history as bad as other politicians like foley, watch and see.

"Blogger Lynn Anderson said...

It was NOT a case of civil disobedience. Where do you dream up this crap?
The people went out on a Charter Referendum and won by 57% of the vote. This Trio commission could have honored the vote of the people. they didn't. They came up with some new law after the fact. The TRIO willingly got sucked into developer interests again over the will of the people.
It is a damn shame. And what's worse, they keep winning.

August 11, 2016 at 8:05 PM"

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute. The State of Florida legislature overruled the city's vote.
Isn't that right?
And that is why the lawsuit had zero merit. If they wanted to sue with potential results, they should have sued the State for THEIR laws which were the ones upheld here.
They "came up with some new law after the fact"......seriously?
Either you believe in the system of law, or you don't.
How is it not civil disobedience if an action has no possible merit except to stall?


Anonymous said...

anon at 8:11
How would you rate your group of citizens in the unethical dept. ?
Man, talk about throwing stones from glass houses.
Would love to know your pick of "Ideal Commissioners"

Anonymous said...

anon@7:31
Nice outlook. 👿

Lynn Anderson said...

I don't know what these judges looked at but it certainly seems to me that when you make a new law and then make it retroactive, that is not kosher. It is too bad that real people didn't get a chance to litigate and give their side to the judges.

This is something that had to go to court...glad it did. Now perhaps it will go to appeal. It wasn't the State of Florida that did not honor our vote. It was the city that used a law to their advantage that these plaintiffs believed along with their attorney, erroneous.

Lynn Anderson said...

And one more thing--
The title of the press release from the City of Lake Worth is totally WRONG.
This lawsuit had nothing to do with HH's project. HH could have built to 45 feet. It had everything to do with our Charter Amendment on heights at 45 feet and the voters desire to keep our city low-rise, not Hudson Holdings ambitions to build higher, allowed by this city government.

This was all bad politics once again by this TRIO.

Anonymous said...

thank god move forward and get this thing done----stop fighting people its all about to change---move if you don't like it----bye bye

Anonymous said...

"They came up with some new law after the fact." WRONG.

The city attorney and commission knew about this law before the vote to lower the heights. He tried to get them to disallow the vote from the ballot. You all were so frantic that he/they didn't try to bring it up because they knew that even if a majority believed the rhetoric and voted for the change, it would be moot. I am happy this is finally settled. For the most part, even the CAVEr's (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) got what they wanted. 99% of the city has a height limit of 45'. The only place that height can be exceeded is in the hotel district (12 blocks) and then, only of a hotel of 50 rooms or more. Smart planning thank you Mr. Waters.

So now that THAT has been settled, it will be incumbent upon all of us who supported this project to make sure we hold HH's feet to the fire. They have also been stalling and not living up to their obligations. They have demolition approvals in hand for the buildings and can now shift into high gear. Let's make make sure they don't stall further.

Anonymous said...

Why should we move? We live right around that hotel. That's the problem with you bullies, no one else can ever have an opinion. We know what we voted for and that was no more than forty-five feet. Scott, Pam and Andy should move and take you with them along with the city mgr and attny.

Lynn Anderson said...

The post-facto law that is in question, came into effect 3 months AFTER the election.
@8:23--how do you know it's settled?

Anonymous said...

Should be interesting when a 5 story building goes next to your cute historic cottage, then you'll be sad that the charter amendment didn't get the respect it should have. The Amendment had nothing to do with the Gulfstream and the renovation could have gone forward.

HH is now promising construction within 6 months. Who wants to take bets on that one, that is Feb. 2017 and I'm going to mark it on my calendar right now. They can't even clean up trash on the site, so I doubt anything will ever happen.

Anonymous said...

All of the unhappy people can now go and sit outside of Mrs. Clinton's new office at 1828 N. Dixie Hwy. Please let the rest of the City get on with its' work. I wonder if you ever stop to think that when you started to complain about roads and bonds and buildings in Lake Worth, you were young people. Not so much anymore!

Anonymous said...

The law had been in the works and looked as if it were a done deal. That is another reason it wasn't brought up before the vote. Had the law not passed, we would be in a different situation.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I'm not surprised. Although the outcome was very different on the west coast of Fl. They have a bit more money and clout there. But from the time I moved here and was charged over $400 sales tax on a car bought in the state of Maryland 3 years prior; it is clear that corruption is the rule here and laws do not necessarily apply. It's the good ole boys club, the crackers, and the developers. They, including Scott, would sell their own mothers for the right price. That's why we also are quickly polluting our estuaries and water systems. Big Sugah talks, the rest of us get sick green algae.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know the names of the Judges?

Anonymous said...

Why? Are you going to get Trump to rile up the Amendment 2 people?

Lynn Anderson said...

He has more important things to think about such as the economy, illegal immigration and ISIS than a bunch of potheads. You want to go out and get stoned...go for it because legalizing medical marijuana will end up far worse down the road than the ivory tower they are putting it into now.

Anonymous said...

I'm a bit confused here after looking up writ of certiorari. I was under the impression that the case had not been previously litigated but was withdrawn and no decision had been previously handed down.

It says the "cert petition" is going to a higher court to review a decision that was made. If no decision was made this is inappropriate.
It also says "the decision does not necessarily reflect agreement with the decision of the lower court."
In the court documentation (thanks for printing, Lynn) There is no information except "DENIED" in capital letters. Did no legal process take place aside from this one word??

Lynn Anderson said...

@10:31...that's my concern exactly.