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Lobeck calls out the city on yet more due process bungling

From: Dan Lobeck, attorney (email to city hall)
Date: 11/29/08
Time: 07:44 AM

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From: Dan Lobeck, attorney <dlobeck@lobeckhanson.com>
To: Bob Anderson, city attorney <randerson@hall-anderson.com>
CC: Mayor, city council, Nancy Woodley, interim city manager, Robert S. Burrus, Jr., Ph.D.
Date: Friday - November 28, 2008 1:39 PM
Subject: Venice Public Hearing Procedures

Bob:

It has come to the attention of my clients, Dr. Robert Burrus and Sorrento
Ranches Homeowners Association, Inc., that the Venice City Council may
consider a change in its public hearing procedures which we urge not be
adopted.

The proposal at issue is one which would require any participant in a
quasi-judicial hearing to submit any written materials to the City
twenty-four hours (or some other time) in advance of the hearing. While we
appreciate the value of policy makers having time before the hearing to
review such materials, we believe it would unduly prejudice the rights of
ordinary citizens, particularly those who would be unaware of that
requirement.

Such a policy would, for example, prevent a resident who lives next to a
proposed development from appearing at a hearing with a map, photographs,
code excerpts or other evidence which that resident may wish to present to
influence the outcome. It would also prevent the introduction of important
evidence developed just prior to the hearing, including over a weekend prior
to a Monday hearing.

If someone has extensive materials to present, there remains the option of
doing so in a deliberate manner at the hearing or - if time would not permit
that - providing them in advance if the person wishes for them to be more
fully considered.

However, a rule which would bar any written materials not submitted in
advance would deny a party the "right to be heard" which is an essential
element of the due process to which parties are entitled at quasi-judicial
hearings by Florida law. Its enforcement would provide any party aggrieved
by the outcome with a point of appeal to the courts.

Again, while I and my clients welcome the City Council's willingness to
examine its hearing procedures to determine how they might be improved, we
urge that they not be modified in a way that would deny due process to
citizens, such as a requirement for prior filing of all written materials to
be introduced at a hearing.

As always, thank you for your considerations and those of the members of the
Venice City Council.

Daniel J. Lobeck, Esq.
The Law Offices of Lobeck and Hanson, P.A.