Case Name: Herbert PAYNE, et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF MIAMI, etc., et al., Appellees
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 2005-11-16
Citations: 927 So. 2d 904
Docket Number: No. 3D05-708
Parties: Herbert PAYNE, et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF MIAMI, etc., et al., Appellees.
Judges: Before RAMIREZ, SUAREZ, and CORTIÑAS, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 927
Pages: 904–913

Head Matter:
Herbert PAYNE, et al., Appellants, v. CITY OF MIAMI, etc., et al., Appellees.
No. 3D05-708.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Nov. 16, 2005.
Rehearing and Rehearing En Banc Denied May 10, 2006.
Andrew W.J. Dickman, for appellants.
Greenberg Traurig (Tallahassee) and David C. Ashburn; Greenberg Traurig (Miami) and Elliot H. Scherker, Paul R. Lipton, Edward G. Guedes, Lucia Dough-erty, and Pamela A. DeBooth; Rafael E. Suarez-Rivas, Assistant City Attorney, for appellees.
Before RAMIREZ, SUAREZ, and CORTIÑAS, JJ.

Opinion:
CORTIÑAS, Judge.
Balbino Investments, LLC ("Balbino") owns property on the Miami River and seeks to develop Hurricane Cove, a mixed-use retail and residential condominium project. In order to develop Hurricane Cove, Balbino applied for and obtained from the City of Miami ("City") a rezoning of its property and a major use special permit ("MUSP").
The Miami River Marine Group, Inc. ("Marine Group") is an advocacy organization that represents the interests of its members who 'own and operate marine industry businesses on the Miami River. Marine Group primarily focuses on studying and protecting the marine industry on the Miami River, and promotes land use and growth management policies to protect and enhance marine commerce on the Miami River. Marine Group alleges that the development of Hurricane Cove will increase residential housing on the Miami River, "an area that heretofore has been set aside, zoned, and used for only water-related and water-dependent marine industrial uses." Marine Group also alleges that the increase in residential housing will make it more difficult for its members to operate industrial businesses on the Miami River because "1) it will deplete the limited availability of land dedicated for marine industrial use, and 2) it will cause further real estate speculation and drive up land costs for limited locations on the Miami River' resulting in greater likelihood that more industrial land on the river will be converted to residential/commercial use."
Herbert Payne ("Payne") is a member of Marine Group and a boat captain who owns and operates P & L Towing, Inc., one of the largest tugboat Companies on the Miami River. Payne claims that he relies exclusively on commercial marine business on the Miami River for his livelihood. Like Marine Group, Payne expresses concern about the increase in residential housing that will result from the development of Hurricane Cove. Payne alleges that this increase in residential housing will make it more difficult for him to operate his business because it "will further erode limited marine industrial zoned land on the Miami River reserved for water-dependent and water-related uses."
Marine Group and Payne (collectively "Appellants"), along with two other plain tiffs, filed a complaint against Balbino and the City (collectively "Appellees"), seeking declaratory and injunctive relief. Appellants maintain that the rezoning and issuance of a MUSP are inconsistent with the City's Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan ("Comprehensive Plan"). Appellees filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss as to appellants. However, the trial court denied the motion to dismiss as to the two other plaintiffs, finding that they had standing to proceed.
We review the trial court's dismissal of the appellants' complaint for lack of standing de novo. See Hospice of Palm Beach County, Inc. v. State, Agency for Health Care Admin., 876 So.2d 4, 7 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004); Fox v. Prof'l Wrecker Operators of Fla., Inc., 801 So.2d 175, 178 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001). In determining whether to dismiss a complaint for lack of standing, we must confine our review to the four corners of the complaint, draw all inferences in favor of the pleader, and accept all well-pled allegations in the complaint as true. See Fox, 801 So.2d at 178; see also Wexler v. Lepore, 878 So.2d 1276, 1280 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); Hospice, 876 So.2d at 7; Putnam County Envtl. Council, Inc. v. Bd. Of County Comm'rs of Putnam County, 757 So.2d 590, 594 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000).
Section 163.3215, Florida Statutes (2004), sets forth the standing requirements for enforcing a local comprehensive plan, and provides, in relevant part:
Any aggrieved or adversely affected party may maintain a de novo action for declaratory, injunctive, or other relief against any local government to challenge any decision of such local government granting or denying an application for, or to prevent such local government from taking any action on, a development order, as defined in s. 163.3164, which materially alters the use or density or intensity of use on a particular piece of property which is not consistent with the comprehensive plan adopted under this part. The de novo action must be filed no later than 30 days following rendition of a development order or other written decision, or when all local administrative appeals, if any, are exhausted, whichever occurs later.
§ 163.3215(3), Fla. Stat. (2004). This statute defines an "aggrieved or adversely affected party" as:
[A]ny person or local government that will suffer an adverse effect to an interest protected or furthered by the local government comprehensive plan, including interests related to health and safety, police and fire protection service systems, densities or intensities of development, transportation facilities, health care facilities, equipment or services, and environmental or natural resources. The alleged adverse interest may be shared in common with other members of the community at large but must exceed in degree the general interest in community good shared by all persons. The term includes the owner, developer, or applicant for a development order.
§ 163.3215(2), Fla. Stat. (2004) (emphasis added).
Prior to the adoption of section 163.3215, common law rules for standing applied, requiring that the party possess a legally recognized right that would be adversely affected by a land use decision. Putnam County, 757 So.2d at 593 (citing Citizens Growth Mgmt. Coal. of West Palm Beach, Inc. v. City of West Palm Beach, 450 So.2d 204, 208 (Fla.1984)). However, after section 163.3215 was adopted, the standing requirements for enforcing a comprehensive plan were liberalized. Putnam County, 757 So.2d at 593; Educ. Dev. Ctr., Inc. v. Palm Beach County, 751 So.2d 621, 623 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999); Southwest Ranches Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. County of Broward, 502 So.2d 931, 935 (Fla. 4th DCA 1987). As a remedial statute, section 163.3215 "allows an adversely affected third party to maintain an action to determine whether a development order is consistent with the [local] comprehensive plan." Educ. Dev. Ctr., 751 So.2d at 622-623.
Within the Comprehensive Plan is a section entitled "Ports, Aviation and Related Facilities," which includes a subsection entitled "Port of Miami River." Appellants allege that the City's decision to rezone Balbino's property and to issue a MUSP is inconsistent with the goals, objective, and policies of the "Port of Miami River" subsection. This subsection provides, in relevant part:
Goal PA-3: The Port of Miami River, a group of privately owned and operated commercial shipping companies located at specific sites along the Miami River, shall be encouraged to continue operation as a valued and economically viable component of the city's maritime industrial base.
Objective PA-3.1: The City of Miami, through its Land development regulations, shall help protect the Port of Miami River from encroachment by non water-dependent or water-related land uses, and shall regulate its expansion and redevelopment in coordination with the City's applicable coastal management and conservation plans and policies.
Policy PA-3.1.1: The City shall use its land development regulations to encourage the establishment and maintenance of water-dependent and water-related uses along the banks of the Miami River, and to discourage encroachment by incompatible uses.
Policy PA-3.1.2: The City shall, through its land development regulations, encourage the development and expansion of the Port of Miami River consistent with the coastal management and conservation elements of the City's Comprehensive Plan.
Policy PA-3.1.3: The City shall, through its land development regulations, encourage development of compatible land uses in the vicinity of the Port of Miami River so as to mitigate potential adverse impacts arising from the Port of Miami River upon adjacent natural resources and land uses.
Policy PA-3.3.1: The City of Miami, through its Intergovernmental Coordination Policies, shall support the functions of the Port of Miami River consistent with future goals and objectives of the Comprehensive Plan, particularly with respect to the unique characteristics of the Port of Miami River's location and its economic position and functioning within the local maritime industry, • and the necessity for coordination of these characteristics and needs with maritime industry that complements, and often competes with, the Port of Miami River.
Appellees contend that appellants do not have standing because they fail to allege an interest protected by the "Port of Miami River" element of the Comprehensive Plan. Specifically, appellees rely on a footnote reference to the subsection titled "Port of Miami River." The footnote states as follows:
The "Port of Miami River" is simply a legal name used to identify some 14 independent privately-owned small shipping companies located along the Miami River, and is not a "Port Facility" within the usual meaning of the term. The identification of these shipping concerns as the "Port of Miami River" was made in 1986 for the sole purpose of satisfying a U.S. Coast Guard regulation governing bilge pump outs.
Appellees argue on appeal that this footnote defines the term "Port of Miami River" and, thus, limits the subsection's application to "some 14 independent privately-owned small shipping companies located along the Miami River." In support of its position, appellees rely on a case which involved property on the Miami River, where the Department of Community Affairs held that the "Port of Miami River" element "applies only to shipping companies as defined in the Comprehensive Plan." Ellen Monkus, James Veber and Gonzalo de Ramon v. City of Miami, DOAH Case No. 04-1080GM (Department of Community Affairs, Final Order, Oct. 28, 2004).
Appellants contend that the footnote merely explains that the Port of Miami River "is not a 'Port Facility' within the usual meaning of the term." Appellants correctly point out that the very language of the "Port of Miami River" subsection is not limited to specific companies but to development regulations concerning the Miami River. For example, Policy PA-3.1.1 addresses the City's use of development regulations "to encourage the establishment and maintenance of water-dependent and water-related uses along the banks of the Miami River, and to discourage encroachment by incompatible uses." A plain reading of this policy suggests that the subsection was intended to apply to the "uses along the banks of the Miami River" and not to 14 specific companies.
Moreover, appellants contend that the footnote cannot be definitional as there is no record evidence of any list defining the 14 companies. As such, there is no record of the identity of the 14 shipping companies. We do not know who they are or where they are located. Even in Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First," one could eventually determine that Who was on First. Here, after reading and re-reading the footnote along with the "Port of Miami River" element, we are left with the same unanswered question: Who are the 14 companies?
We find that the "Port of Miami River" subsection is not limited to 14 unidentified companies. Rather, the footnote explains that the "Port of'Miami River" is not a port in the traditional sense of the word. Accordingly, appellants did not have to allege that they were one of the 14 shipping companies referenced in the footnote.
Appellees also rely on Florida Rock Properties v. Keyset, 709 So.2d 175 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998), where the plaintiff lacked standing to challenge the county's decision to rezone land from agricultural to mining use without requiring a 25 percent set-aside to preserve native vegetation, as required by the county's comprehensive plan. The plaintiff alleged that (1) he owned land approximately ten miles away from the rezoned land, (2) he operated a law business in the county and occasionally represented conservationists, (3) he main tained a life-long interest in environmental protection, and (4) his quality of life would be affected by the county's failure to leave a 25 percent set-aside to protect native vegetation. Id. at 176.
The court held that the plaintiff failed to demonstrate any specific injury to confer standing upon him because mere property and business ownership is insufficient to show that the plaintiff would suffer an adverse effect to an interest protected or furthered by the comprehensive plan. Id. at 177.
Unlike the situation in Florida Rock Properties, in the instant case, appellants' allegations, taken as a whole, are sufficient to confer standing upon them to seek enforcement of the Comprehensive Plan. See, e.g., Putnam County, 757 So.2d at 593. Both appellants allege that they are aggrieved and adversely affected parties with legal standing to bring this action and that they will suffer adverse effects, exceeding the general interests shared by the community at large, as a result of the City's approval of the Hurricane Cove development. They allege that their interests "are protected and furthered by the existing development standards and [Comprehensive [P]lan to protect available land along the Miami River for water-related and water-dependent marine industrial uses, and quality of life within the City of Miami." They further allege that the development of Hurricane Cove introduces incompatible land uses within the vicinity of marine industrial uses, and allows for land uses that are inconsistent with, or do not further, the Comprehensive Plan.
Appellants also allege that they would suffer specific injuries as a result of the development of Hurricane Cove, such as the negative impact that the development would have on "neighborhood quality, character, safety, densities and intensities of development, buffering, and preserving the Miami River as a 'working river.' " Marine Group specifically alleges that the increased residential housing would make it more difficult for its members to conduct business along the river because of (1) the depletion of available land sites for marine industrial uses on the Miami River, and (2) the likelihood that more industrial land on the Miami River will be converted to residential and commercial use. Payne specifically alleges that he will have more difficulty operating marine industrial business along the Miami River because the increase in residential housing is incompatible with marine industrial use and will further erode the limited areas zoned for marine industrial use.
Appellants have alleged an adverse interest that "exceed[s] in degree the general interest in community good shared by all persons." See § 163.3215(2), Fla. Stat. (2004). Taking all of appellants' allegations as true, as we must on a motion to dismiss for lack of standing, we find that they have sufficiently alleged facts to meet the liberalized standing requirements of section 163.3215. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court's dismissal of appellants' complaint and remand for further proceedings consistent with our holding.
Reversed and remanded.
RAMIREZ, J., concurs.
. The other two plaintiffs are adjacent landowners.
. The other two plaintiffs were found to have standing because they are adjacent landowners.
. Even if appellants made such an allegation, it is entirely unclear how this allegation 'could be proved or disproved.