Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Litigation update. "Indigo Street, LLC" resolves the petition challenging the Shore decision, agrees to dismissal through new Village Attorney John Dellagloria

Maybe sometimes it just takes a new attorney to get issues settled. Some attorneys are warriors, some are settlers. 


At least one item of litigation costing our village taxpayers has come to an end. The litigation generated by Petitioner, Indigo Street, LLC, and the Respondent, Village of Palmetto Bay, officially came to an end through the filing of a joint stipulation for dismissal on December 5, 2019. The parties advised the court that "The Parties have resolved their differences rendering this appeal moot." This stipulated dismissal was signed by John Dellagloria, Esq, Palmetto Bay’s newly installed in-house village attorney and Jeffery Leary. (CLICK HERE to view a copy of the stipulation/notice of voluntary dismissal)

QUESTION: What "DIFFERENCES" were RESOLVED and how are they "RESOLVED"?

The parties agreed that they will bear their own fees and costs.

TAXPAYER ISSUES: What was accomplished and how much did this cost the Village of Palmetto Bay taxpayers to defend? This is fair question and the Village Attorney should advise the public. This lawsuit was pending well over a year since being filed on August 20, 2018 with the Appellate Division of the Circuit Court (Case No.: 2018-000241-AP-01) and generated 48 docket entries - not including how many letters, e-mails and conferences, both telephonic and/or live. Substantial expenses went into this lawsuit that seemingly went nowhere other than to generate substantial fees and costs passed on to the innocent taxpayers - the village taxpayers are stuck with the bill.

Why was there no attempt to recover the costs for the taxpayers? 
Where can I find notice to the public that an item would come before the Village Council relative to the dismissal of this lawsuit?

NOTE: Indigo Street, LLC, is a Florida Corporation. It has a single officer/Manager: John DuBois (who also services as Palmetto Bay Vice Mayor). The Registered Agent (not an officer of the LLC) is Jeffrey Leary, who also acted as attorney of record in this Petition challenging the development order of the Village of Palmetto Bay. (CLICK HERE to view the 2019 annual report of Indigo Street, LLC as on record with Sunbiz.Org).

This case involved a Petition for Writ of Certiorari filed on behalf of the Corporation (LLC) known as Indigo Street, seeking to quash the decision of Palmetto Bay to approve the Shores at Palmetto Bay's application for site plan modification/approval. (CLICK HERE to download and view the entire 32 page petition filed with the 11th Judicial Circuit on August 20, 2018)

The petition arose out of an unanimous decision of the Village Council (4-0, Vice Mayor John DuBois was absent from the proceeding) to approve the application at the hearing held on July 24, 2018 (Zoning Resolution 2018-97 is NOT available online through the official Village website – CLICK HERE to view a copy that I posted).

NOTE: The Shores at Palmetto Bay is an ongoing zoning matter. See the Village notification posted online:

The Shores application is back before Palmetto Bay. This matter was noticed long prior to the stipulated dismissal of the Petition challenging this action, so we can assume that the Vice Mayor is good with the Shores moving forward both on the original approval as well as staff’s recent (in 2019) review and approval of administrative action approving site plan modifications. The notice posted on the Village website is that of a preliminary determination regarding the substantial compliance of site plan modifications for the Shores at Palmetto Bay (VPB-16-018), pursuant to Section 30-30.3(c) of the Village of Palmetto Bay Code of Ordinances: The Shores as Palmetto Bay (VPB-16-018) approved by Resolution 2018-97 on June 23, 2018 has made modifications to the site plan in order to comply with the conditions of Resolution 2018-97. (note not inconsistent - Emphasis added) Vice Mayor John DuBois did not participate in the conditions set in Zoning Resolution 2018-97.

Can we assume that John DuBois, at least either individually or as the sole officer of Indigo Street, LLC, is satisfied with the proposed site plan modifications that are presently being processed through the Village Administration? I would not understand a dismissal of his challenge if he was not in favor of the current status. 

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