Agenda - Planning Commission - 12/04/2003

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('~ z.B. November 10, 2003 -- Page 3 played in the city's early automobile industry. The proposed designation included five buildings ow'ned by Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.. At a heating on the issue, property owners voiced their opposition. They complained they did not have enough input in the process, the designation would decrease their buildings' values, the auto industry was insi~nificant in the history of Mirmeapolis, and the buildings had already been altered too much. to merit designation. Even so, the city chose to designate parts of the neighbor- hood as historic. Billy Graham sued, arguing the city acted arbitrarily and capriciously. The court ruled in Billy Graham's favor on three aspects of the desig-nation: the inclusion of properties which had been extensively remodeled, the fact only a portion of one.of Billy Graham's buildings was included in the district, and the inconsistent use of an alley as a boundary. The court ruled in Billy Graham's favor. The city appealed. DECISION: Reversed. The city's pIanned designation was not arbitrary and capricious. The city code deemed an historic district as "all property within a deemed area." "Property" was deemed as "any land, building, structure or object, sur- face or subsurface area, natural or landscape feature." Under the ordinance, "property" did not mean every single building had to have historic si~- cance. By its plain language, the ordinance permitted any building, structure, surface area, or landscape feature to be included in a historic district as long as it was within the defined area. The irregular boundaries and the inclusion of only a part of a building came about because the city decided to redraw the boundaries into two smaller dis- tricts after receiving critiques concerning its ori~4nal single district. As an at- tempt to ameliorate costs, the redrawing of the district was a rational response to the concerns of property_ owners. The city provided ample evidence that the chosen properties and boundaries created a recogaxizable boundary for the district that included the highest concentration of historically-contributing buildings. Citation: Billy Graham Evangelistic Association v. City of Minneapolis, Supreme Court of Minnesota, No. C1-01-2127 (2003). see also: Handicraft Block Ltd. Partnership v. City of Minneapolis, 611 N. W. 2d t 6 (2000). " see also: Honn v. City of Coon Rapids, 313 N.W. 2d 409 (1981). Ordinance -- City vote adopts zoning amendments Opposition claims vote was the act ora goverr~ing body FLORIDA (08/15/03) -- Cocoa Beach citizens initiated two petitions to amend the city charter. The first Proposed amendment would limit residential density to l0 units per acre and transient lodging to 28 units per acre. The second prop~)sed amendment would establish building height limits of 45 feet. 89