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Palmetto Bay Village Attorney John Dellagloria, JD, on Feb. 25 issued a statement saying that legal action had been taken against the county concerning the SW 87th Avenue Bridge project.
“The Complaint against Miami-Dade County has now been filed by attorney Norman Wass, who is volunteering his representation to the village,” Dellagloria said. “I will co-counsel the case with Norman. The two individuals also named have agreed to be represented by the village in this action. The next step will be for the county to file an initial response, which will be posted when received by the village.”
The Complaint — Case # 2022-003627-CA-01 — was filed with the County Clerk of the Courts, and is a 19-page document describing in detail the sequence of events leading up to the filing of the lawsuit and clearly stating the position of the village and the purpose of the legal action.
“Through this lawsuit, the village seeks to prevent the county from causing irreparable harm by constructing a long-debated, controversial bridge without the required public input into the decision-making process that is essential to proper governance and guaranteed by state and county law,” the complaint reads. “Specifically, the village challenges the county’s improper use of a COVID emergency ordinance to push through the bridge project in a manner that violated the County Charter and Code’s notice, appropriation, and ordinance requirements, as well as the State of Florida’s Sunshine Law. These actions deprived the village and its residents of an opportunity to be heard on this critical project and represented an abuse of the County’s power.”
A major point of the lawsuit is the position that the county resolution authorizing the construction of the bridge, sponsored by newly appointed District 8 Commissioner Danielle Cohen-Higgins, was rushed through in less than one day’s time— issuing the agenda late in the day on Feb. 1, 2021 and conducting the meeting on Feb. 2, 2021 — with no adequate notice allowing village officials or residents a chance to attend and voice opinions. Typically, four days’ notice is required, and there are often committee reviews or other advance proceedings.
Cited as the justification for the rapid run through the county commission was the COVID-19 Emergency Ordinance No. 20-38 which amended section 2-1 of the Code of Miami-Dade County to waive the four-day notice rule and committee review for “time sensitive matters with little or no financial impact” during “declared states of emergency.” The village disputes that justification.
“The County Resolution authorized the construction of a bridge extending SW 87th Avenue from SW 164th Street to SW 163rd Terrace and extending over the Cutler Drain Canal C-100 (the ‘bridge project’),” reads the lawsuit. “It also, by its own terms, directed the appropriation of $3,100,000 from road impact fee funds from the fiscal year 2020-2021 County Budget for the design and construction of the bridge project. Indeed, the resolution uses the term ‘appropriate,’ ‘appropriates,’ or ‘appropriating’ four times, including twice in the title.”
The lawsuit states that one member of the commission properly objected to the use of the Emergency Ordinance to rush the vote on a project that was not an emergency, and that the chair of the commission acknowledged this concern but allowed the vote to proceed, even after the county mayor requested that it be deferred to allow for review by a committee.
Prior to the filing of the lawsuit, on Feb. 18, 2022, the office of the Village Attorney also sent a records request to the Hon. Harvey Ruvin, Clerk of the Courts, and Melissa Adames, director, asking for copies of all communications sent or received by County Commissioner Danielle Cohen-Higgins in any way related to the bridge project to include “all internal and external correspondence, memoranda, letters, notes, text messages, posts of any kind on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other electronic or social media platform, maps, charts, designs, financial estimates and all other communications whether electronic or otherwise.”
Village Mayor Karyn Cunningham told Miami’s Community Newspapers that she appreciated the efforts of councilmembers, staff and residents.
“The village council has been very patient and has attempted to capture the voice of the residents,” Mayor Cunningham said. “I am a big believer in process, and we have worked in good faith to find resolution. Unfortunately, our commissioner motioned to move to impasse. While I don’t take filing litigation lightly, this is the next step in the process as outlined in Florida statute and so we are moving forward.”
I agree, the reason we became Pinecrest was to avoid Dade County of making stupid decisions. Things need to be directed by the home owners , not the county or council. The council. Is there to do the home owners desires