Pelican is now updated online…from last weeks edition…in case you missed the LBTS news…
The denial of the appeal for the Coral Key …was definitely a matter of politics…a lousy town department…bad advice from the new under qualified head of the Development department and a startling assertion by the Town Attorney on the dais….
Payback is a bitch…and in this case…in this writer’s opinion…it was pure payback…for Arker…his paper…and his opposition to the Mc-gang…no doubt if a CIC Mc-pal were in the same situation…the outcome would have been as it should have been…based on the applicant …showing the progress made…fulfilling the requirements…while dealing with the same hangups the Town itself has faced with the Public Safety Complex…we hear has the Town now must install an outside “lift” to comply with ADA requirements…despite assertions from the Town Manager some months ago on the dais…that switching the police upstairs …took away the elevator required for the VFD being on the second level…OOPS!…
The Town has had the frustration of experiencing its own permit setbacks on the Pavilion resulting in the present less than perfect timing of the project being done at this time of the season…with a deadline looming…
On top of that…. the recent upheaval in the Development Department itself…the resignation of the former Director…who denied the site plan extension from even being heard by the BOA…and the removal of his assistant….due to assorted problems with plans…decisions…and mess ups…on scores of LBTS applicant’s projects……that culminated with the Manager installing her Assistant Town Manager in the department to oversee the process few months ago……to “keep an eye on things”……John Olinzock remains in that role today…HMMM….
These Commissioners all knew the background described above…so not only did they ignore the legal argument…that was valid in this writer’s opinion, they chose not factor any of it in…. for one personally …the act was the height of hypocrisy!
It was embarrassing to watch…not only due to the previously posted bad behavior on the dais from certain Commissioners…but to hear the Town Attorney say he could not give his opinion on the dais about what constitutes a building permit when asked before the final decision by Commissioner Silverstone……a later conversation with another Attorney from the Town’s law firm brought forth a different response, that the answer could have been supplied by counsel at that time….and no matter how much she tried to save him, the Manager could not…when it came to once again witnessing the ineffectual responses of the new Developmental Services Director…who when asked why the BOA voted the way they did…incredibly responded …”because they did!”…YIKES!…
Before I was kicked off the Planning and Zoning Board…this project came before us…and to the surprise of those making the presentation, assuming that due to my “kool-aid” status of the time …I would turn it down…I heartily supported this development…..
Mr Arker presented a beautiful project, asking for no variance, mindful of the Oriana fiasco…and it remains so now….although, again in this writer’s opinion….Hotel/Condos are dead in the water due to the times we are experiencing, that also has no bearing on the fact, it should have been given a site plan extension, no doubt.
This one needs a do-over…any takers on the dais?….
http://www.pompanopelican.com/editions/V14_I48/page_view.php?id=65&id_version=1&id_page=368
http://www.pompanopelican.com/editions/V14_I48/page_view.php?id=65&id_version=1&id_page=357
more to come….
Tags: Local News, local papers, Local Politics, Opinions
