05-14-29 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

REGULAR MEETING May 14, 2018 considering grounds to override the Mayor's veto of this legislation. It requires a two-thirds (2/3) majority, in other words, six (6)votes to override the veto. Councilmember Oliver Davis stated,As a follow up to that, please,with the receiving of the letter from Attorney Nussbaum regarding some outlines and regarding the final nature of our decision tones, you kind of responded to some of that and could you please give us some enlightenment on what you shared? Council Attorney Bob Palmer clarified, As far as the possible Court action? Councilmember Oliver Davis replied, That is correct, sir. Council Attorney Bob Palmer stated, Technically there is no availability of a review of the Council's decision or the Mayor's veto for the rezoning issue. There is no appeal to the Court itself. However, if either party is aggrieved by the decision tonight, they may file a declaratory judgment action in State Court to challenge the decision on Constitutionality grounds. They would have to argue that the decision was arbitrary or capricious. Those are the only grounds that could be raised if they are to take legal action. Councilmember Oliver Davis interjected,For a layperson,what does arbitrary and capricious mean in legal terms? Council Attorney Bob Palmer replied,Arbitrary and capricious would mean,basically,as it applies to this situation, without basis within the legal criteria that are to be examined in making the decision. If something outside that criteria affects the decision,that would be considered arbitrary and capricious. Councilmember Oliver Davis interrupted, So you're talking about the five (5) characteristics that we have to consider? Council Attorney Bob Palmer confirmed, The five (5) criteria that are on the screen for you, that is correct. Councilmember Oliver Davis went on, So if it is outside of that that would be arbitrary and capricious? Council Attorney Bob Palmer confirmed, That is correct. Council President Tim Scott opened the floor to comment from Council Members. Councilmember Oliver Davis asked, I would like if there are any comments, would we all be allowed to have any comments or are we going to move forward with the vote, or...? Council President Tim Scott replied, We are making comments right now. This is the discussion part. Councilmember Oliver Davis replied, Cool. Then, I will go ahead and share. Before I went to bed last night I made sure I had my favorite bow-tie ready to roll. It was right there on the side so I didn't have to rush and find it this morning because of the fact that when I put this on it reminds me of what this nation is all about. Some were surprised with me being one (1) of the five (5) but as the Chair of the Zoning and Annexation of this Council and looking at this and being on this Committee,there is an issue of,I would say, fairness. A person asked me if it wasn't the Women's Care Center asking for this request and it was just Joe Blow, whatever, what would your answer be. I said they would probably grant it. They probably would. Even if somebody had just paid $500,000 to buy a place because we get a lot of special requests all the time when people buy something and they need something and they want to do it, they will probably still go ahead and do it. And I thought about that when I told them that. Should I change my opinion just because of that if it was visa versa? There are people on the left who took time to protest President Trump, I understand that. There are people who came and took time to protest President Obama and I understand that. I really am very concerned with the Mayor's comments when he talks about,well, what is the community's good. Councilmember Oliver Davis continued, As an African-American and watching my parents both be on the back of the bus, both of them had to deal with all that stuff. We have to hear what a 2