HomeMy WebLinkAbout06 29 1989 Council Won't Go to Court Until Sued Over Airport Vote6A, Thursday, June 29, 1989, Vero Beach, Fla., Press -Journal
Sebastian River Area
0 Grant • Micco-Little Hollywood • Barefoot Bay • Sebastian • Fellsmere • Roseland • Vero Lake Estates
Council Won't Go To Court
Until Sued Over Airport Vote
By PATRICIA DiLALLA
Sebas4ian Bureau Chief
Sebastian City Council weighed the idea
Wednesday of asking a court to rule on the le-
gality of the airport referendum, but in the end
gave way to an expected lawsuit from others
that would force the city to adopt the referen-
dum by ordinance.
Despite prompting a motion to have the city
attorney seek a declaratory judgment from a
court on the legality issue, Mayor Richard Vo-
tapka joined the unanimous vote to reject that
action.
The vote followed a warning from Coun-
cilman Frank Oberbeck that some city resi-
dents will file a petition at 9 a.m. today asking
the courts to force the city to adopt the airport
ordinance.
"I don't feel it would be worth going for a de-
claratory judgment," Oberbeck said. "We will
just expend a lot of money, and the end result
will be the sane. A court will decide."
Votapka raised the question of seeking a de-
claratory judgment because of the city's pre-
carious situation on the referendum.
Although the voter -approved referendum re-
quired the city to adopt an ordinance by June
12 implementing its provisions, the council
instead approved an agreement with the Feder-
al Aviation Administration that put any action
on the referendum at a standstill.
Under terms of the agreement, the city Will
conduct a planning study of the airport that
would take into account community concerns.
Until that study is completed, possibly in a
year's time, the city will not adopt the ordi-
nance and the FAA will not attempt to take
back the airport.
The FAA has said, however, that if the ordi-
nance is adopted implementing the refer-
endum, then it will invoke the reverter clause
on the deed giving the airport to the city,.
If the court ruled that the referendum was
unconstitutional, Votapka said, then no one
would sue the city and the city would not face
the loss of the airport.
Burt J. Snell, one of the people behind the cit-
izens' legal action, said he felt he was acting in
the best interest of the city.
"The airport issue has been dragging along
too long," said Snell, also one of the organizers
of the effort to disincorporate Sebastian city
government. "It costs too much money. Let's
end it one way or another."
His aim, Snell said, was to "save some taxes."
City Attorney Charles' Nash said whichever
legal action makes it to court, one of the city's
defenses would be that the council did not
adopt the ordinance because it was unenforcea-
ble.
In other airport business:
e No one would second Oberbeck's motion to
dismiss Eliot Cutler as the city's airport attor-
ney.
*Council unanimously agreed to pay the
final bill of $10,120,for. preparation of the Air-
port Master Plan.
*Council unanimously adopted voluntary
airport noise abatement rules for the airport.
* Council, by a 3-2 vote, approved having an
airport complaint hotline put in at City Hall to
be monitored by someone other than Airport
Manager John Van Antwerp. Votapka and
Oberbeck voted against the motion.