Miami Herald Highlights Legal Fight Over West Palm Beach Related Ross Hotel as Residents File Writ Challenging City Approval

The Miami Herald reports on the escalating fight over the proposed convention center hotel, highlighting a recently filed petition for writ of certiorari challenging the City of West Palm Beach’s approval of the eighteen-story project. The suit is brought by an Alliance of residents who are asking the Circuit Court to halt the project while alleging the city violated its own rules in approving the hotel.

The story details the filing on Sept. 30, by the Grandview Heights Neighborhood Association and West Palm Beach Neighborhood Alliance, challenging the 400-room Curio Collection by Hilton hotel. Residents argue the city approved the project without the findings required to support key issues – such as traffic, infrastructure, and other public impacts.

The article also underscores the scale of the public financial support behind the project. Palm Beach County recently approved a multimillion-dollar purchase-and-leaseback arrangement with Related Ross. The plan, approved by West Palm Beach commissioners, gives up more than $1 million a year in property-tax revenue tied to the hotel.

“Just look at the sequence: required infrastructure questions left unanswered, critical safety measures deferred, and the parking plan depended on a County lease that had not yet been approved,” said William A. Brewer III, partner at Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors and counsel for the petitioners. “This is not about a neighborhood being precious about its zip code – it is local government treating legally required steps as inconveniences.”

Margaret Frazzini, president of the Grandview Heights Neighborhood Association and the Alliance, told the publication: “We are not taking legal action because we’re against growth,” she said in a prepared statement. “We’re filing because somewhere along the way, residents became an obstacle to a decision that was already made.”

Read more here.