Joel EngelhardtCity appeals environmental permit after judge in exhaustive trial found the road extension would cause no harm.
Editor’s note: This story was updated Aug. 4 with new information.
The challenge to the environmental permit to extend State Road 7 to Northlake Boulevard has entered a new phase.
The city of West Palm Beach, arguing that the four-lane road could damage its surface water supply next to the Ibis Golf and Country Club, filed an appeal last week.
Why it matters: The extension would provide a direct link between Northlake and Okeechobee boulevards, a shortcoming in the area road network made more visible this week when a CSX rail crossing closure at Northlake is forcing drivers to follow lengthy detours through The Acreage and Loxahatchee to reach another east-west artery.
What’s next: The city’s appeal of the permit granted by the South Florida Water Management District will go before a three-judge panel of the 4th District Court of Appeal.
Yes, but: The city made another request as well, in light of what it called new evidence. It asked the appellate court to give it 60 days to get the Water Management District to reconsider its July 1 decision to grant the permit.
- The new evidence emerged when the district responded to a June 2 city public records request on July 11, after the district issued the permit. The city says the records argue in its favor.
- “By this motion, the city seeks to ensure that neither this court nor the parties waste valuable resources in this appeal from a final order that may be vacated based on the city’s pending motion,” the city’s Tampa-based attorney, Edward de la Parte, wrote.
Catch up quick: The city argued that revisions to state code in June 2024 apply to the case even though the case was tried before that date.
- The district, in rejecting the city’s argument in the July 1 order, noted that “the city raises a procedural quagmire.” And added that the parties did not agree to meet the new state code, even though they knew it was going to be approved.
What they’re saying: “Not only was the (administrative law judge) entitled to apply the statutes and rules agreed to by all parties, but the (judge) certainly did not create, as the city claims, a ‘fundamental procedural error that is contrary to the essential requirements of law’ by doing so,” the district’s top attorney, Maricruz Fincher, wrote in granting the permit.
Of note: The city had success with an appeal before, in 2018. That forced a second lengthy trial before a state administrative law judge. That retrial took place over three weeks in October 2023, three weeks in April 2024 and one week in May 2024.
Four parties, all supported by taxpayers, played roles in presenting and questioning expert witnesses at the trial: West Palm Beach, Florida Department of Transportation, South Florida Water Management District and Palm Beach County. An accounting of how much the dispute has cost has not been made public.
Zoom in: The administrative law judge, Francine Ffolkes, issued her order May 1 finding against the city on 29 points. The Water Management District accepted all but one point, making a minor change, and issued the permit July 1, giving the city 30 days to challenge.
While the judge and the district concluded that the road-building measures planned by FDOT would limit or eliminate damage from flooding or pollution to the city’s vast Grassy Waters Preserve, the city has presented testimony from expert witnesses saying it would not.
