B.
City Attorney - An update to SB180 Litigation
Attorney Good stated there are two parts to this update. He will first give a brief update
received from the Volusia County Attorney's Office regarding the county's efforts to put
forward some legislative changes to the SB180 Bill in the next legislative session. They
have informed us that Volusia County is working with the Florida Association of Counties
and the Florida Association of County Attorneys (FACA) on their proposed legislative
changes. The proposed language from the county narrows the scope of enforcement to
properties damaged by the hurricane, meaning properties that require a building permit to
repair. This was accepted by the FACA Growth Management Committee and is making its
way through the overall association. So the county's proposed language makes changes to
Section 18 and Section 28 of the Bill and he read those sections with the proposed
changes.
Attorney Torcivia stated she sent the Commission an update about a week ago and she
does not have a ton more to report, but the case was filed in Lyon County. The case number
if anyone wants to follow it is 2025 CA1876. The case was filed, the summons was issued,
and it does not appear at this point that any of the defendants have yet been served. She
spoke with Attorney Jamie Cole last week, who is the lead attorney at Weiss, Serota,
Helfman, Cole & Bierman working on this case, and he advised that they were working on
the injunction and were hoping to file it at the end of last week or early this week. To her
knowledge, it has not yet been filed as of today and it is not reflected on the docket. With
that said, it could have been filed today, just not updated yet. That is the update with respect
to the litigation.
The Commission and City Attorney discussed reason for the delay, lack of service,
injunctions, the number of counties/cities involved, wasting money and damaging
relationships.
Motion by Commissioner Santiago, seconded by Commissioner
Nabicht, for the City of Deltona to withdraw from the suit against the
State of Florida.
The Commission discussed negotiating amendments, lobbying, legal costs, State funding,
future delegation decisions, Home Rule, other options, loosing out on projects,
representation of residents, proposed amendments, previously requested revisions,
followers vs. leaders, funds invested, asking for a stay in court, slowing down development
of homes, flooding issues, protecting residents, anger driving conversations, relief from
flooding, and lawsuit not slowing growth.
The Mayor opened public comments and residents addressed the City Commission.
The Commission discussed funding the stormwater program, new residential projects,
development over the last 5 years, faulty stormwater systems, updating policies, scare
tactics, stormwater issues, lack of leadership, and mending relationships.
The motion carried by the following vote:
