HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-23-1998 VC SP-MPresent:
ROLL CALL
MINUTES OF SPECIAL SESSION
OF THE
VILLAGE COUNCIL OF NORTH PALM BEACH, FLORIDA
HELD THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1998
David B. Norris, Mayor
Charles O'Meilia, Vice Mayor
Dr. Edward M. Eissey, President Pro Tem
Gail H. Vastola, Councilman
Joseph A. Tringali, Councilman
Dennis W. Kelly, Village Manager
George W. Baldwin, Village Attorney
Kathleen F. Kelly, Village Clerk
Mayor Norris called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. All members of Council were
present. All members of staff were present.
Mayor Norris announced at this time that the Village Council would recess for the purpose
of holding an Attorney/Client Session at 6:00 p.m. for approximately 55 minutes to discuss
the lawsuit of the Village v. 421 Northlake Blvd. Corp., d/b/a Crystal's Bar and Grill.
Mayor Norris announced all persons who would be in attendance at the Session.
RECESS
Mayor Norris recessed the Special Session at 6:01 p.m. The Special Session
reconvened at 6:45 p.m.
Mayor Norris announced that the Attorney/Client session had adjourned.
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting adjourned at
6:46 p.m.
/i . J
,ZKjthleen F. Kelly, CMC, Village CI k
a
THE PALM BEACH POST
Published Daily and Sunday
West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County, Florida
PROOF OF PUBLICATION
STATE OF FLORIDA
COUNTY OF PALM BEACH
Before the undersigned authority personally appeared fhris Bull who on oath says that she is
Classified Advertising Ma ager of The Palm Beach Post, a daily and Sunday newspaper
published at West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County, Florida; that the attached copy of
advertising, being a Notice in the matter of Open Meetinu/Attornev-Client Session in the ----
Court, was published in said newspaper in the issues of July 19. 1998.
Affiant further says that the said The Post is a newspaper published at West Palm Beach, in said
Palm Beach County, Florida, and that the said newspaper has heretofore been continuously
published in said Palm Beach County, Florida, daily and Sunday and has been entered as second
class mail matter at the post office in West Palm Beach, in said Palm Beach County, Florida, for
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Swom to and subscribed before me this 29. day of July D 1998
I
Personally known XX or Produced Identification
Type of Identification Produced
(11127AJ1NA)INTNR centIVIcLintl0nr177JN7'{
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NO. 497122 - -
'_- VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM
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PUBLIC NOTICE
THE CITIZENS AND PROPERTY
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IN'fEAE'STEUPERSONS ARE
FRE Y AOVLSED ,LO_ TAKE
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ORRIS, VICE -MAYOR
LCHARLES R.R. O'MEILIA PRESI-
- MUTT PRO TEM EDWARD M.
VEISSEY COUNCILMEN GAIL H.
i.VA5YOLA AND JOSEPH A.
ItTRINGALI, WILL CONVENE AN
jQPENMEETING _QF THE
;WORTH PALM BEACH VILLAGE
ED INCH_ GN-YNURSDAY,
ULY 23 119S AT 5;00 P M
(RICH TIME THE VILLAGE
SQCNCIL 'W!U. ANNOUNCE
TS INTENTION TO MEET IN A
I!PFVATE ATTORNEY -CLIENT
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ER DENNIS KELLY, VIL
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.DWIN, AND LITIGATION
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ING—UTIGATION STYLED VIL
CAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH
bci421 NORTHLAKE BLVD
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LMEETING Lc) DIBQUSS ANY.
_MATTERS WHICH REMAIN ON
LITSAGENDA.
Kathl4on F. Kelly, CAC
-Village Clerk -
- Pubuah: Palm Beach Poal
lonaaY, July _/9 1998
VILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH
VILLAGE COUNCIL -EXECUTIVE SESSION
ORIGINAL
Thursday, July 23, 1998
6:10 PM to 6:45 PM
Village of North Palm Beach City Hall
North Palm Beach, Florida
APPEARANCES
Mayor David Norris
Vice Mayor Charles O'Meilia
President Pro Tem Edward Eissey
Councilman Joseph Tringali
Councilman Gail Vastola
Village Manager Dennis Kelly
Village Attorney George Baldwin
Consulting Attorney Counsel, Thomas J. Baird
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1 (Whereupon, the following proceedings
2 were had:)
3 MR. BAIRD: The last time we met we
4 discussed the need for alternate sites and I
5 identified the potential alternative sites.
6 And we proceeded to propose amendments to
7 the code that would deliver to potential
8 alternative sites. And tonight you know you
9 have a public hearing and first reading on
10 the ordinance.
11 The two sites on our exhibit are the Ed
12 Morse Chevrolet site, which is presently
13 zoned C-2. And what the ordinance would do
14 would be to amend the allowed uses in C-2 to
15 include adult entertainment as a use.
16 And the second amendment involves an
17 existing non -conforming residence that is in
18 this vicinity. And because of that
19 non -conforming building being used for
20 residential purposes, there is a separation
21 requirement from existing residential uses
22 that prohibits this site here where the
23 Mobile Jiffy Lube is from being considered
24 as a potential facility.
25 So the other amendment is to delete the
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1 requirement of the existing residential use.
2 That does not mean that it would apply to
3 residential zoning uses because this
4 property is not zoned residential. It's
5 simply being used as a residence. And that
6 is the only location in the Village where
7 those facts exist. That is a non -conforming
8 building being used as a residence. So the
9 impact is limited in the Village.
10 I should add that the change to the Ed
11 Morse site, that the impact is also limited
12 because that's the only site that's zoned
13 C-2. So the ordinances that are being
14 proposed affect only these two properties.
15 MR. EISSEY: And only those two
16 properties are zoned C-2?
17 MR. BAIRD: Only the Ed Morse property
18 is zoned C-2.
19 MS. VASTOLA: The other one is C-1.
20 MR. BAIRD: I would also like to I
21 guess update you a little bit on the law
22 because it's been evolving. And the last
23 time I was here in the public workshop
24 session, I mentioned to you that I had some
25 good news that there was a case out of
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FORM C-100 - LASER REPORTERS PAPER & MFG. CO. 800-626-6313
1 Casselberry, Florida that was beginning to
2 go our way.
3 Well, this Monday Federal District
4 Court Judge Don Middlebrooks entered an
5 order in a case I was involved in defending
6 the Town of Jupiter dismissing a complaint
7 by Mr. Carmona against the Town where
8 Mr. Carmona argued that there were no sites
9 in Jupiter upon which he could locate his
10 proposed facility.
11 The judge in the order did not reach
12 all of the substantive issues. He dismissed
13 it based on standing and a ripeness ground,
14 which are technical legal procedural
15 mechanisms that have to be met in order for
16 you to be important in the first place.
17 But within his opinion he did discuss
18 because it had been raised in my memorandum
19 of law, that it may be possible for small
20 residential communities to not have any
21 adult entertainment facilities located
22 within their community if there were other
23 sites outside of their community that could
24 deliver the same entertainment. So we now
25 have a Middle District Court judge
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1recognizing that it may be possible --
2 MR. TRINGALI: Excuse me, the Southern
3 District.
4 MR. BAIRD: A Middle and Southern
5 District. The case that Judge Middlebrooks
6 cited too was the Middle District opinion
7 out of Casselberry, Florida that I had
8 represented to you at your last meeting.
9 So we're building the case now to show
10 that not only does the Village have a
11 sufficient number of sites based on a per
12 capita ratio basis. But in addition to that
13 there are sufficient number of sites within
14 a five, seven and a half and 10 mile radius.
15 By the time we get to trial we'll have those
16 graphics produced.
17 In fact, what our research indicates is
18 that within seven and a half miles of North
19 Palm Beach there are eight licensed adult
20 entertainment facilities. So our plan at
21 this point is to go into court, demonstrate
22 that the sites -- that the opportunity
23 exists within the Village. But not
24 withstanding that there are opportunities
25 here, there are also opportunities within
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FORM C-100 - LASER REPORTERS PAPER & MFG. CO. 800-626-6313
1 Palm Beach County in a reasonable proximity
2 to the Village. And that based upon the
3 facts of that case, our case, that this
4 ordinance in the Village of North Palm Beach
5 should be upheld as constitutional.
6 MAYOR NORRIS: I guess the question I'd
7 ask then is do we need to do the rezoning
8 and changing then that we're proposing now
9 given this new case?
10 MR. TRINGALI: I was about to ask that.
11 MR. BAIRD: Well, it's not the holding
12 of the case that you can do that. It's
13 discussed in dicta. And in my judgment it
14 would be a much riskier proposition in terms
15 of your ordinance being upheld to go in
16 without any sites and rely on other
17 community sites. Because Judge Cook in this
18 case is going to have to make an evidentiary
19 ruling that our presentation of sites
20 outside of North Palm Beach is relevant.
21 MR. TRINGALI: So what you're saying is
22 you don't want to walk into court based on
23 Casselberry alone.
24 MR. BAIRD: Casselberry and Jupiter.
25 MR. TRINGALI: And Jupiter. But you
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FORM C-100 - LASER REPORTERS PAPER & MFG. CO. 800-626-6313
1 want to say, hey look, we do have these
2 sites. And besides, judge, we don't even
3 need to have them.
4 MR. BAIRD: That's what the City of
5 Casselberry did and it was a formula that
6 worked for them. They had three sites in
7 Casselberry. They had three sites just
8 outside of Casselberry. And you know our
9 facts are a little bit different. We're
10 going to have -- I'm sorry. They had three
11 existing adult businesses inside Casselberry
12 and three in the unincorporated area just
13 outside of Casselberry.
14 Our facts are that we have one existing
15 facility. We have two sites that could
16 potentially house other adult entertainment
17 facilities, and within seven and a half
18 miles there are eight licensed facilities.
19 Not all of those facilities by the way are
20 open. And so the court is going to have to
21 work through those facts and make some
22 conclusions as to whether or not it's
23 relevant to even consider those sites
24 outside North Palm.
25 MR. KELLY: Tom, the eight facilities
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FORM C-100 - LASER REPORTERS PAPER & MFG. CO.
1 in the County you said are not open. But I
2 presume you're talking about existing
3 facilities as compared to, what is it
4 called, theoretical opportunity based on the
5 zoning.
6 MR. BAIRD: Right.
7 MR. KELLY: But have we looked at the
8 unincorporated County in respect to that as
9 far as potential sites?
10 MR. BAIRD: We're also developing that.
11 When I say our, I'm referring to the planner
12 that we would retain, Jim Fleischman, and
13 myself. Our goal is to show this judge how
14 many theoretical opportunities there are and
15 how many existing facilities there are.
16 MR. EISSEY: That's good.
17 MR. BAIRD: And when we're done with
18 that, the graphic, the map that we're going
19 to show him is going to be dotted with
20 something like 20 opportunities within a
21 probably 10 mile radius of North Palm Beach.
22 MR. EISSEY: Red dots.
23 MR. BAIRD: Big red dots, flashing red
24 dots, or neon. And it will include -- by
25 the way, Jupiter's ordinance is being
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1 amended. It will include six sites, five
2 sites in Jupiter. Opportunities, not actual
3 facilities.
4 MR. TRINGALI: Opportunities in
5 Jupiter. Okay.
6 MR. BAIRD: We've looked at Palm Beach
7 Gardens and there are no opportunities in
8 Palm Beach Gardens. Most of the
9 opportunities in existing sites within the
10 seven and a half mile radius are in West
11 Palm, Lake Park and Riviera Beach.
12 MR. TRINGALI: Do we need to do
13 anything else? Are you coming to us tonight
14 to say I need additional ammunition or are
15 you just updating us?
16 MAYOR NORRIS: What's the purpose of
17 our meeting tonight in other words?
18 MR. TRINGALI: I hope it's just
19 updating.
20 MR. BAIRD: Updating. At your last
21 meeting you wanted to have this meeting in
22 case there was any indecision on your parts,
23 a safety net really in case you decided to
24 back away from these amendments.
25 MAYOR NORRIS: You don't feel
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1 comfortable given this new case of going in
2 there and making these changes? You still
3 don't think we would have a good shot?
4 MR. EISSEY: We're rolling the dice.
5 MR. BAIRD: The new case is not the
6 holding. And because it's not the holding
7 of the case, it's not going to be as binding
8 or persuasive on the judge.
9 MR. TRINGALI: My problem with this -
10 and first of all I want to thank you for the
11 absolutely outstanding presentation you did
12 at the last counsel meeting to the public.
13 Accept I kept sitting up at the counsel
14 table and saying I thought this was all top
15 secret stuff.
16 But in any event, it really explained
17 everything to the people that were out there
18 who are the citizens of this community. And
19 we all received a letter from at least one
20 lady saying, hey, I don't like it, but it's
21 what we have to do and let's hope for the
22 best.
23 I have no problem with the Ed Morse
24 property at all. Because I really think
25 that Ed Morse will be there forever. I'm a
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1 little bit concerned about the area one
2 Mobile Express group site, because that's
3 owned by Mobile which is some corporation in
4 Kentucky.
5 And before anybody else says anything,
6 I realize we're on the record, I've had a
7 Mobile credit card since I was in college.
8 They provide wonderful gasoline and all that
9 other stuff. But I just really worry if
10 somebody comes along and says that, hey,
11 I'll give you five hundred bucks for that
12 station or you know their business suddenly
13 falls off to a net profit of only 20 percent
14 as opposed to their expected 25 percent. I
15 just worry about that. Ed Morse I don't
16 worry about at all. I just worry about a
17 site that's owned by an out of state --
18 MS. VASTOLA: And it's a small site.
19 MR. TRINGALI: A small site that's --
20 MS. VASTOLA: Do we really need that
21 site?
22 MAYOR NORRIS: Can we get by with two
23 and come within any of the formulas?
24 MR. KELLY: Before you answer that
25 question, let me ask kind of an intermediate
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1 question. Let's say we amend the code like
2 we're on track to do now. Both those sites
3 get amended. We go to court and we don't
4 prevail. Let's say we lose. Could we come
5
6
7
8
back -- let's say we decide we don't want to
appeal and we're just going to live with
Crystal's where it is. Can we come back and
amend those codes back and eliminate those
9 two slots and still be whole?
10 MR. BAIRD: Yeah. Sure.
11 MAYOR NORRIS: And then we won't have
12 an argument that they're grandfathered in or
13 anything like that. We've done that in the
14 past anyway.
15 MR. BAIRD: It's a separate zoning
16 action.
17 MR. BALDWIN: Nobody has applied for.
18 MR. TRINGALI: And then presumably we
19 would subject ourselves to another lawsuit
20 from some other adult business.
21 MR. KELLY: We could do a zoning in
22 progress kind of thing, too.
23 MR. TRINGALI: But then we'd have to
24 deal with the law that exists at that time
25 in the year two thousand three.
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MR. BAIRD: Let me try and answer.
Thank you for your comments about my
presentation. Let me try and answer the
questions sequentially taking the first
question first and the intermediate question
next. Based on the court opinions that I've
seen, if the court applies the per capita
analysis and as I've reported to you before,
there's a question in the Southern District
as to whether they'll use that. analysis or
they'll use the percentage of land in the
community analysis. But assuming they use
the per capita analysis, ordinances that
have had one site per six thousand have been
held constitutional. Ordinances that have
had one site per more than six thousand
residential have been held unconstitutional.
Assuming your population is 12,000, and
you have two
the envelope
assuming the
sites., you're at the edge of
of constitutional ordinances
per capita of ratio test is
applied. If you're at three sites per 12,
you're well within the envelope.
Now, the reason we've looked at these
sites outside of the community is because
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1 not only do we want to be in the envelope,
2 but we want to give the judge the further
3 assurance that even if North Palm is not
4 quite all the way in the envelope here,
5 anybody who really needs to express their
6 first amendment rights by watching adult
7 dancers can do so within a fairly reasonable
8 travel distance from North Palm Beach.
9 So I believe I've put the Village in
10 the best position I could put the Village in
11 given the constraints that the Village has
12 in terms of the land uses that the Village
13 has, and in terms of the Village's character
14 as really a small residential community.
15 The third site helps. But if you feel
16 that this Mobile Lube site is just something
17 that you're willing to take that small
18 additional risk on, then you can leave that
19 one out. Your chances of having a
20 constitutional ordinance are better with it
21 in clearly.
22 MAYOR NORRIS: Here's an additional
23 thought on that. If you leave it out and we
24 give it a shot and maybe we win with these
25 other arguments. But then if we lose, we
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1 have the ability to go back in, do this
2 third site, and go back and see if the third
3 site makes the difference.
4 MS. VASTOLA: I think you have one
5 chance to go.
6 MR. O'MEILIA: Let me say something
7 about that site. If you're concerned about
8 it -- and I have a concern about it too
9 about them buying the Mobile site. But I've
10 convinced myself now that that is the lessor
11 of all of these. Just looking at that from
12 a building inspector's standpoint or a
13 zoning standpoint, it's highly unlikely that
14 that will ever develop into a Crystal's,
15 into a bar and dining room place because of
16 the size of it and the parking requirements
17 that we have, the restaurant and things like
18 that. Highly unlikely.
19 It would probably be restricted to a
20 video place. I don't have as much of a
21 problem with a video place as I do with a
22 Crystal's place because we have them
23 already. I know we have one or two that we
24 just can't hammer and I know they're in Lake
25 Park. You know they are. They're all over
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1 the place. The video places are.
2 The fact is we had one just north on
3 U.S. One for years. And then we had one
4 next to Sir Speedy for a year before we kind
5 of eased him out, the same guy, a video
6 place. So I'm really not that hung up on
7 the video places as I am as the Crystal's.
8 That's the lesser of two evils and I think
9 it's worth the. chance. We got 13,000 people
10 plus or minus in this town and two aren't
11 going to cut it. According to the six
12 thousand --
13 MAYOR NORRIS: We are over 12,000.
14 MR. O'MEILIA: Were almost 13,000.
15 MR. KELLY: That's the official
16 University of Florida population, 12,000
17 plus, almost 13,000 plus. If you start
18 getting into Florida, now you go out to
19 Canada and Kentucky and your population is
20 the same year around. You get into Florida
21 and every city has a different population in
22 season. And our's boots up to about 15,
23 16,000.
24 MR. O'MEILIA: 18,500 is what it really
25 is today. We got residential structures
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1 here to fit 18,500 people at the rate of two
2 point three per household.
3 MR. KELLY: If they were to get ahold
4 of our comp plan and see what our so called
5 unofficial population is --
6 MAYOR NORRIS: If we were just under
7 12, I was just saying I want to go with the
8 two sites and take our chances. Because
9 that's the rule that we're trying to comply
10 with and why do more? Where do you draw the
11 line? You have three. How about four?
12 We'd be even better. But since we have over
13 12 in the summer and well over it in the
14 season, you know, if the basis of us making
15 any change is to try to come to the --
16 MR. TRINGALI: I have to agree with you
17 Mayor. And my real concern is that -- well,
18 I go have my oil changed at Mobile Express
19 Lube every three thousand miles. I want to
20 see them stay in business. But it's
21 really -- I mean, we have to recognize it's
22 a real risk.
23 MAYOR NORRIS: Maybe do it every 1,500
24 miles.
25 MR. TRINGALI: It's just a risk
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1 because --
2 MR. O'MEILIA: We could buy it.
3 MAYOR NORRIS: It's not that funny.
4 MR. BAIRD: There's another opportunity
5 and that would be to approach the property
6 owner about a restrictive covenant that the
7 owner would voluntarily place in the
8 property that it would not be available for
9 adult entertainment. We could use it for
10 any other commercial purpose. But the case
11 law has held that even if there is that kind
12 of restrictive covenant on the property, the
13 courts still look at it as available sites.
14 MR. TRINGALI: I mean, wouldn't that be
15 some sort of a bad faith or something if the
16 Village approached Mobile and said, look, we
17 want a covenant from you. Couldn't Carmona
18 or whatever his name is accuse us of
19 torpedoing our own zoning ordinances.
20 MR. BALDWIN:. I would think that that
21 would look pretty bad from the Village's
22 standpoint. The other thing, too, and of
23 course Tom is ahead of me on the case law,
24 is what's a consideration for somebody who
25 already has an existing use, permitted use,
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1 to put some kind of a restriction.
2 MR. TRINGALI: We'd have to pay him.
3 No doubt about it.
4 MAYOR NORRIS: It wouldn't be a
5 requirement of the Village. And property
6 owners do all of the time do declarations of
7 restrictive covenants.
8 MR. TRINGALI: But they don't do it for
9 free.
10 MAYOR NORRIS: Sure they do. They do
11 it for their own property to make sure that
12 it stays the way it is. If they ever want
13 it separated, that's done. So I think you
14 can beat the lack of consideration.
15 MR. O'MEILIA: And perpetuate it.
16 MR. EISSEY: Perpetuity.
17 MR. KELLY: Mobile owns that property
18 by the way.
19 MR. BAIRD: Mobile Oil.
20 MR. KELLY: Yeah. They're the property
21 owner.
22 MR. O'MEILIA: I have a real dread of
23 this thing. But it's not as bad as it could
24 be.
25 MR. KELLY: Let's see how much all of
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FORM C-100 - LASER REPORTERS PAPER & MFG. CO.
1 us are willing to compromise here for a
2 second. Mobile is looking to -- Mobile has
3 got their application in for the Winn Dixie
4 store up on Conrad DeSantis's property, and
5 we got a problem up there. The setback is a
6 hundred feet from U.S. One. But it says the
7 building -- you're going to love this one.
8 It says the building line has to be a
9 hundred feet back. Well, the building --
10 the little convenience store that goes
11 within the drive-thru station is 117 feet
12 back.
13 They're talking to me and Tom right now
14 about how they can get their overhead canopy
15 into that property by definition and still
16 be about 25 feet inside the setback. In
17 other words, the overhang of that canopy
18 which is a wholly separate structure from
19 the building not even connected goes into
20 that setback by about 25 feet.
21 So they're looking for a 25 foot
22 variance. But they've already been told by
23 the Appearance Board that there's no
24 recommendation on their part. They're not
25 willing to go in front of the Zoning Board.
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1 They don't have the hardship issue in front
2 of them.
3 MR. BAIRD: I don't think the Village
4 would be looking for any quick pro quo from
5 Mobile. I represent Mobile Oil and have
6 represented Mobile Land Development since
7 1993, and they're a very community spirited
8 organization.
9 MS. VASTOLA: Yeah, but that's today.
10 They could be sold tomorrow.
11 MR. TRINGALI: Wait a minute. Let's
12 hear our attorney out.
13 MR. BAIRD: I think an organization
14 like that understands the interest of a
15 community, and being assured that a site
16 that they own that is eligible for adult
17 entertainment not be in the future on the
18 market for that kind of use. And I think
19 that's the spirit in which any discussion
20 with Mobile ought to be approached. Not in
21 some kind of situation where you scratch our
22 back, we'll scratch yours.
23 I don't see any downside to just
24 inquiring to Mobile and saying, hey, you
25 know the Village has changed the zoning with
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FORM C-100 - LASER REPORTERS PAPER & MFG. CO. 800-626-6313
1 respect to your parcel, but you might want
2 to give this some consideration for the
3 future and see what happens.
4 MR. BELLY: Our attorney expressed a
5 concern about that. Is that something we
6 should do while we're in this process or
7 wait until after the zoning is permitted?
8 MR. BAIRD: I don't think any of you
9 should have that discussion with Mobile Oil.
10 MR. BALDWIN: We talked about that just
11 a little bit. It seemed to me that anything
12 along that line should be taken up after the
13 litigation is completed and should not be.
14 approached or become a part of our
15 litigation. I think it could make us look
16 like we're in bad faith if it came to light.
17 MR. TRINGALI: I agree.
18 MAYOR NORRIS: I'd rather pursue
19 Mr. Amelia instead of going to them and
20 suggesting. Maybe you could go to them and
21 request a right of first refusal if they run
22 us out.
23 MR. TRINGALI: That may not be such a
24 bad idea. They're building all over the
25 Village.
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FORM C-100 - LASER REPORTERS PAPER & MFG. CO. 800-626-6313
1
MR. O'MEILIA: Of course all of that is
contingent on winning the lawsuit. They may
3 slap it back the way it was. I don't have
4 that big of a concern about it. All of you
5 know I'm sure Wally's place, Wally Video
6 over here, and there are three or four
7 places in the Gardens. I could ask my
8 grandson and he could tell us every one of
9 them around here within five miles in five
10 seconds. But they don't really concern me
11 near as much as that other place.
12 MR. EISSEY: I'm ready to make a
13 decision and I support the recommendation of
14 the attorney.
15 MR. TRINGALI: Me too.
16 MR. O'MEILIA: I do.
17 MR. EISSEY: And the two sites.
18 MAYOR NORRIS: That's all we're here
19 for Tom?
20 MR. BAIRD: Unless you have questions,
21 I'm agreeable too.
- 22 MS. VASTOLA: I don't think we have any
23 choice as much as I hate it.
24 MAYOR NORRIS: We at one point talked
25 about maybe at some point also changing the
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1 zoning with regard to sale of alcohol and
2 those types of -- I'd like to do that, too.
3 MS. VASTOLA: Yeah, how about that?
4 MR. BAIRD: If you want to proceed with
5 that, I would suggest you move forward with
6 that at the same time.
7 MAYOR NORRIS: We can't now.
8 MR. BAIRD: It's not something that is
9 going to be accomplished in time for trial
10 on this.
11 MAYOR NORRIS: Right.
12 MR. BAIRD: But it has worked in other
13 communities.
14 MR. O'MEILIA: Let me tell you about
15 that. We got a few minutes now. I've
16 really been involved in this County
17 ordinance, County adult entertainment
18 ordinance. And I've gone to the
19 municipality twice trying to get them to
20 support change in this County ordinance
21 which we are in. We have stayed in it. We
22 haven't opt out of it. All of the cities
23 are in it unless they opt out.
24 And what's happened down there in the
25 County is the County Attorney and the
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1 District Attorney and the Sheriff have all
2 told the County Commission, hey, we can't do
3 anything with this damn law the way it's
4 written. You got to change it. You got to
5 plug up the loophole.
6 They went to the County Commission and
7 the County Commission said, well okay, you
8 bring us back an ordinance. So they brought
9 back the ordinance and it had over two
10 hundred changes in it. I counted every one
11 of those damn things. It had over two
12 hundred changes. And the County that day in
13 the workshopsaid we're going to forget it.
14 Bring us back an ordinance with these
15 licenses for these dance establishments.
16 They didn't want to fool with it.
17 Now, I've gone to the Municipal Board
18 of Directors twice in treating them to go
19 talk to the County as a Board in an attempt
20 to get them to do it, and they just looked
21 at me. And if you read the minutes. That's
22 why I've been sending you the Municipal
23 League minutes because it's in there that
24 I've gone to the Board.
25 Now, the president of the Municipal
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1 League told me the other day in another
2 meeting that he was going back to Bob
3 Weissman to see what he could do. My
4 suggestion on this point is at this point we
5 ought to seriously consider adopting that
6 ordinance ourselves.
7 MS. VASTOLA: I don't think we have any
8 other choice than to adopt it ourselves.
9 MR. O'MEILIA: Adopt that ordinance and
10 opt out of the County and do our own
11 licensing ordinance. And I know George
12 feels that we shouldn't do that. At least
13 he felt before that we shouldn't do that
14 because the County Attorney was supposed to
15 do the work for us. But obviously they're
16 not going to do it. And they just feel that
17 they lose every time they go to court.
18 MAYOR NORRIS: Do you have a copy of
19 one that was proposed?
20 MR. O'MEILIA: Yeah. I have one on a
21 tape. The only thing is it's on Word
22 Perfect 6.0.
23 MR. TRINGALI: I've got it.
24 MAYOR NORRIS: We've got it at the
25 office.
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1 MR. O'MEILIA: What I was going to do
2 was take it and put it on my Word and update
3 it and make it fit the Village. But can I
4 give it to one of you and you can give it to
5 George. George, what have you got? Have
6 you got Word Perfect?
7 MR. BALDWIN: Yeah, I've got Word
8 Perfect.
9 MR. O'MEILIA: Okay. I've got it. And
10 I really think we need to do that. Because
11 the thing is so full of holes. And I've got
12 a printed copy of it too incidentally if you
13 want to distribute that.
14 MAYOR NORRIS: Yeah. Why don't you do
15 that.
16 MR. O'MEILIA: It's 88 pages long and
17 it's got over two hundred changes in it.
18 But I really think we need to do that.
19 That's what Riviera Beach did. Riviera
20 Beach took that ordinance and adopted it
21 themselves so they could enforce it their
22 own way. But they got rid of that place out
23 on the beach.
24 MR. TRINGALI: This is in terms of
25 selling liquor?
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1 MR. O'MEILIA: This is a licensing
2 ordinance to determine whether you can get
3 an adult entertainment license or not. But
4 it also picks up all these ramifications
5 about whether they can sell liquor, hours of
6 operation, how many people you can have in
7 there, how high the bar can be off -- all
8 this nonsense.
9 MAYOR NORRIS: Let's look at that.
10 MR. O'MEILIA: That's what they call
11 their licensing ordinance. Where we got
12 stuck is we didn't have the zoning ordinance
13 to back that up. We would have been in a
14 lot better shape.
15 MR. BALDWIN: Tom, if I understand your
16 research, the Southern District, the
17 prevailing right now is the five percent
18 rule. The Middle District is the per
19 capita. There's no way we can fit into the
20 five percent so we're working on the per
21 capita and asking them to adopt the Middle
22 District. So I assume what you're saying is
23 that we're not going with the prevailing, so
24 three sites versus two puts us in a stronger
25 arguing position being in the Southern
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FORM C-100 - LASER REPORTERS PAPER & MFG. CO.
1 District.
2 MR. BAIRD: Well, whether or not we
3 were in the Southern District, three sites
4 versus two would put us in a stronger
5 position. I'm of the opinion that land
6 percentage rule is an unreasonable rule of
7 law as applied at least to small
8 communities. And I don't know what the line
9 of demarcation for small is.
10 But in Judge Middlebrook's opinion in
11 the Jupiter case, he referred to the Town of
12 Jupiter which population is about 30,000 as
13 a small residential community. So I'm
14 hopeful that having that opinion to argue to
15 Judge Cook in our case here, certainly if
16 Jupiter is small, then North Palm is small.
17 And I just think that the courts. who
18 have evaluated this law based on cases
19 brought in much larger communities have to
20 start dealing with the facts of smaller
21 communities and the fact that many smaller
22 communities are not intended and never were
23 intended to be full service communities and
24 offered a whole range of goods and services
25 and entertainment that you might expect in a
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1 larger city.
2 And so I think what the courts have to
3 be presented and what the Supreme Court
4 opinion talks about in terms of small
5 residential communities is evidence and
6 facts that show that it would be
7 unreasonable to expect a bedroom community
8 that is largely residential to make, you
9 know, five percent of its land for adult
10 entertainment.
11 And judges have to be reasonable in
12 applying facts to the law I think. And I
13 think if we can present the kinds of facts
14 that I've described for you today in terms
15 of what the Village has done to make its
16 ordinance constitutional, the Village has
17 gone the extra mile. I'm doing my closing
18 arguments now of course.
19 The Village has gone the extra mile in
20 making sites available. And not
21 withstanding that, there are within seven
22 and a half miles eight licensed facilities
23 and 15 other potential sites for these
24 facilities. And the court needs to be
25 reasonably applying the law here.
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1 MR. O'MEILIA: -- decided on nine
2 sites.
3 MR. BAIRD: Twenty-two.
4 MR. O'MEILIA: Was that the Southern
5 District?
6 MR. BAIRD: Yes.
7 MAYOR NORRIS: Are we all set?
8 MR. TRINGALI: All I can say,
9 Mr. Baird, is ifyou were on the bench I'd
10 give you a decision right from the bench.
11 MR. BAIRD: Well, you might be some
12 day.
13 MAYOR NORRIS: Anything else?
14 MR. TRINGALI: I want to thank you for
15 doing an outstanding job on all of the
16 research and the expertise and all of the
17 things that went into this case here.
18 (Whereupon, the proceedings were
19 concluded at 6:45 p.m.)
20
21
22
23
24
25
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1 CERTIFICATE
2
3 STATE OF FLORIDA
4 COUNTY OF PALM BEACH )
5
6 I, TRACY LYN BARRETT, Court Reporter and
7 Notary Public within and for the State of Florida at
8 Large, duly commissioned and qualified, do hereby
9 certify that pursuantto a notice to take said
10 hearing heretofore filed, the examination was reduced
11 to writing under my supervision; and that the
12 transcript is a true record of my stenographic notes.
13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set
14 my hand and affixed my official seal this
15 August, 1998.
16
17
18
19
5th day of
al
TRACY I4YN 9ARRETT
Court eporter and
Notary Public, State of
Florida at Large
2 0}����S��ti������5�������������������,��5ss���is���g�
s,;;; -.Fyll, Tracy Lyn Barrett
21 t •; 4A' * Notary Public, State of Florida
Commission No. CC 597334 ;
{ '' My Commission Exp. 12/28/2000)
22 ( Bonded Through Fla. Notary Sentice & Bonding Co. )
23
24
25
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