Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 11-14-2006‎(workshop)‎ — reading text

proportions. Before the building industry could legislation found by the U. S. Supreme Court is an show signs of revival, we were at war, and a virtual emergency. Marcus Brown Co. v. Feldman, 256 moratorium on construction was imposed. The U. S. 170, 41 S. Ct. 465, 65 L.Ed. 877 ( 1921), cessation of hostilities has been followed. by an Lincoln Building Association v. Barr, 1 N. Y. 2d upsurge of new construction, but soaring costs and 413, 153 N. Y. S. 2d 633, 135 N. E.2d 801. Appeal other factors have seriously retarded the creation of dismissed 355 U. S. 12, 78 S. Ct. 12, 2 L. Ed.2d 20. additional residential accommodations and business Emergency has been narrowly defined. An increase space. During the entire period while construction in the cost of living ( an inflationary spiral) alone is lagged behind the nation' s requirements, the not a justification for rent control legislation which population grew steadily. Both factors combined to limits the amount of rent which a tenant may be produce a large deficit in housing facilities of which we became acutely aware when millions of veterans required to pay. Chastleton Corporation, et aI. v. Sinclair, et aI., 264 U. S. 543, 44 S. Ct. 405, 68 L.Ed. returned trom the war and sought to establish homes 841 ( 1924). Explicitly designating the type of for their existing or newly founded families. Q 2006 Thomson/ West. No Claim to Orig. U. S. Govt. Works. 11/14/ 2006 https:// web2. westlaw.com/printlprintstream. aspx?prft=HTMLE& destination= atp& sv= Split& rs=...  Page 80f9 305 So. 2d 764 Page 8 305 So. 2d 764 Cite as: 305 So. 2d 764) to the Constitution, or to City of Miami Beach v. The American people dislike government Fleetwood Hotel, Inc., Fla. 1972, 261 So. 2d 801. regulation of their business affairs and tolerate it The majority view is all quite puzzling to me in only when they believe it to be justified by view of the aftennath of City of Miami Beach v. compelling considerations of public good. Fleetwood Hotel, Inc., and all that has been done by Accordingly, there is general agreement that the the Legislature and the City of Miami Beach to landlord tenant relationship should be freed from comply with the guidelines implicit in that decision. rent controls at all government levels at the earliest time consistent with the public welfare.' It does not appear that the ordinance is substantially different from rent control ordinances or legislation enacted in other jurisdictions. See citations of cases The mere inability by a group of tenants to meet upholding same in the dissent in the Fleetwood rent payments is not such an emergency as to justify Hotel case, 261 So.2d, text 808. government controls which are suitable to that group of tenants but which would render The majority misconceives the import and impact of investments in housing projects far less attractive such provisions in the ordinance that relate to ' net and in * 772 some instances lead to bankruptcy. annual assessed return,' ' evaluation of property,' The right to iIl'Vest capital and expect it to earn a and ' operating expenses of the property,' by fair return is a basic civil right and one which contending they are universally confiscatory ab should not be destroyed merely for the convenience initio. On the contrary, all operating expenses of a of tenants who are living in accommodations rental property except debt service and depreciation are to be computed in the rental rates before a net apparently beyond their financial ability. I do not believe that such an emergency as would warrant annual return of 6 per cent is calculated on the the questioned rent control ordinance existed in the assessed evaluation of the rental property. Taxes instant cause. The shortage of housing units payable on a rental property are to be figured as throughout this nation and particularly in Florida operational costs. Rents are to be adjusted from time to time in keeping with the assessed valuation today is a matter of grave concern to all our people and certainly one which commands the attention of the rental property at the rate of 6 per cent per and consideration of all responsible echelons of annum of such valuation over and above said government. It is also a great challenge to the free operating expenses. Even if return by the taxpayer can bring a property up to 100 per cent valuation enterprise system. Nevertheless, the housing crisis which we have allowed to creep upon us is not good against which the 6 per cent rate will be applied. and sufficient reason to confiscate the profits from Debt service requirements will vary among rental investments in housing units which have been made properties. To draw a flat conclusion that the rate in good faith. Unless government is to assume the will universally be 4. 5 per cent as to all rental total for low cost housing, private responsibility property and confiscatory is logically insupportable. investors should be Encouraged and not There are further provisions in the ordinance which latitude to discouraged in making investments in additional penn it the administrator reasonable relieve particular landlords in hardship situations housing units. and, of course, court review affording due process BOYD, J., concurs. ERVIN, Justice ( concurring in against confiscation is stipulated. part and dissenting in part): Since the beginning date of operation of the I] I concur in all of the opinion insofar as it ordinance and its freeze of rents on October I, ] 973 upholds Ch. 73- 129, but emphatically dissent to the remainder of the opinion striking down the City of were rendered inoperative by the present litigation, Miami Beach' s rent control ordinance. I find no it will be necessary that the beginning operational rational basis in the majority opinion for now date of rent control be judicially readjusted in invalidatingthe ordinance. I perceive nothing in the keeping with the intendment of the ordinance. ordinance itself which is contrary to Ch. 70- 129 or Q 2006 Thomson/ West. No Claim to Orig. U. S. Govt. Works. destination= atp& sv= Split& rs=... 11/ 14/ 2006 https:// web2. westlaw.comlprintlprintstream. aspx?prft= HTMLE&  II Page 90f9 305 So.2d 764 Page 9 305 So.2d 764 Cite as: 305 So.2d 764) It is hardly judicial to conclude blanketly that confiscation will ensue as to All rental * 773 properties in advance of any conclusive evidentiary demonstration to that effect as to any rental property or properties pursuant to an administrative hearing or court review. ADKINS, C.J., and McCAIN, J., concur. Fla. 1974. City of Miami Beach v. Forte Towers, Inc. 305 SO. 2d 764 END OF DOCUMENT 2006 Thomson/ West. No Claim to Orig. U. S. Govt. Works. https:// web2. westlaw .comlprint/printstream. aspx?prft=HTMLE& destination= atp& sv= Split& rs=... 11/ 14/ 2006 OS-~- 2Q06 GE : 06Pk\ FROLHllLER " MlSlEY 8609376! SI T- 6& 1 Y.~ utiUUl r- u~ a MILLER & ANSLEY, PeA. ATTORNEYS A T LAW Wildcat Plaza 4' 5 Mountain Drive, Suite 3 Destin, Florida 32541- 2349 J. Jerome Miner TelephD11e: ( 8SO) 837. 3860. Filr::simt' le: ( 850) 837-6158 Andrea D. Ansley E-Mail: mil1et@det$jnl~ wtirm cern Stephanie M. Oc1wnzzi MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Craig H. Barker FROM: City Attorney ~ DATE: June 3D, 2006 RE: Legal Opinion re: Prohibition against Employment of Unauthorized Aliens Please be advised that we have received your request for a legal opinion regarding the lssue of whether Local Qovernments can pass legislation to prohibit the employment of unauthorized aliens. In response to your request, we have found tha~ me employer sanction provision of ~ A * 274A [ 8 U. S. C. A ~ 3324a] expressly preempts any state or local govemment trom passing a law imposing civil or criminal sanctions, other then through licensing and similar laws, upon those who c:mptoy, recruit, or refer for employme~ unauthorized aliens. This means that state and