This was issued by the City of Pensacola on Friday afternoon:
Statement from Mayor Hayward
“Ms. Bowling interpreted the ordinance correctly and was completely on point with her position as she presented all the issues in her Memorandum of Law that she submitted on this case.
With the Judge’s ruling, this will pave the way for the Paro family to sell the home to the developer and create more density and growth downtown. I am sure the developer will respect the intrinsic historical value.”
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The City of Pensacola has received the court’s final decision in the ARB/John Sunday House case.
The Court agreed with the City Attorney’s position as presented in her Memorandum of Law in which she wrote, “Tabling the meeting does not toll the clear requirement for the Board to act within the thirty-one (31) day period as prescribed by Section 12-13-3.”
The Court concluded the decision by directing the city to issue a permit for demolition for the property. The final judgment and other associated documents are available here.
Editor’s note: The City did not post the city attorney’s Memorandum of Law until Tuesday, June 28, over a month after the mayor had said she had rendered an opinion that the ARB could not table items. The ARB had requested the opinion in May, but were not given it.
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So City Attorney Lysia Bowling agreed with the plaintiffs and won the case for the developers?
That appears to be what the mayor is saying and what, in fact, happened. No one defended the Architectural Review Board.
The citizen’s petition on the permit was blocked from being heard by the Zoning Board of Adjustment because of what may have been collusion between the mayor’s office and the developers.
Not sure how Florida Bar ethics work, but this seems odd.