Arm-Wrestling over the Construction of a Dollar General on Gulf Beach Highway

It will be interesting to see which way the circuit court rules on the county's decision about the construction of a Dollar General on Gulf  Beach Hwy....

The group representing potential buyers of a parcel of property on Gulf Beach Highway are not giving up.  They are not giving up on their quest to build a Dollar General store in this part of the county where they felt it was appropriate and permitted under the county's land development code.

The problem for this group of would-be developers is/was that the planning board and county staff recommended that this property not be approved for a Dollar General store, utilizing the "locational criteria" --and the opinion that this development did not meet that criteria-- as their rationale for denying the permit.

So the petitioner next went to the Board of Adjustment (BOA).  The BOA heard additional testimony from county staff and held a hearing--where they ruled in favor of the county to uphold the denial of the permit for the Dollar General at this particular location.

After the BOA decision, the petitioners filed a motion in Circuit Court to compel the BCC to capitulate.  Shortly after the filing--the petitioners "froze" this filing and moved forward with an attempt at an alternative land use dispute process for coming up with a solution.

This did not work.

So the petitioners are now back in Circuit Court after "un-freezing" their filing because this additional state-sanctioned mediation between the parties failed to reach an amicable compromise.

County staff attorney Charlie Peppler wrote the county's response to the court filing by the petitioners.

It is an interesting read.  

I wonder who wins this arm-wrestling match?  Will it end up like Eager Beaver or some of the concrete crushing operations---or---did the county get it right when the permit was denied initially?

We'll see when the Judge rules on this case.