City of Miami Beach v. Miami-Dade County
City of Miami Beach v. Miami-Dade County
Concurring Opinion
(concurring).
I concur with the decision to deny the City of Miami Beach’s (the “City”) petition for writ of certiorari. Developer Micky Biss (“Biss”) began construction on a building in 2001. A dispute with the City’s
Opinion of the Court
In the exercise of our discretion, certio-rari is denied.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting).
This case involves an “interpretation” of a provision of the South Florida Building Code which deals generally with the requirement that if work does not proceed under a duly-issued building permit within a specified time, the permit will lapse. Section 304.3(f) states, however:
Work shall be considered to have commenced and be in active progress when, in the opinion of the Building Official, a full complement of workmen and equipment is present at the site to diligently incorporate materials and equipment into the structure throughout the day on each full working day, weather permitting. This provision shall not be applicable in case of civil commotion or strike or when the building work is halted due to legal action. (Emphasis added).
The obvious purpose of the emphasized language is to keep the permit in effect when work is prevented by some adverse legal action. 101A C.J.S. Zoning and Land Planning § 287 (2005). In the decision now before us, however, the Miami-Dade County Board of Rules and Appeals made, and a three-judge panel of the appellate division of the circuit court without opinion approved, the astonishing finding that the permittee’s own circuit court action seeking declaratory relief concerning the permit acted as a stay. This conclusion, which means that the permit may be held in limbo forever — so long as the holder comes up with successive filing fees to maintain successive actions against the City — is, I believe, so plainly absurd
. Roget provides some, but not all, equivalent expressions: “absurd, nonsensical, ridiculous, poppy-cockish, laughable, ludicrous, 880.4; foolish, crazy; preposterous, cockamamie [informal], fantastic(al), grotesque, monstrous, wild, weird, outrageous, incredible, beyond belief, outré [Fr], extravagant, bizarre; high-flown.” Roget's Int’l Thesaurus 470.10, p. 354 (rev. 4th ed. 1977).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.