Lawsuit Settlement Discussion on Wellington Council Agenda - May 28th 2013

By: Lauren Miro

The battle over the use of the Equestrian Village property could be settled next week with the Wellington Village Council expected to discuss a settlement offer to curb its legal woes.

A discussion of the issue is on the agenda for the council’s Tuesday, May 28 meeting, Village Attorney Laurie Cohen told the Town-Crier this week.

The settlement offer could halt two lawsuits filed last year by Wellington Equestrian Partners (WEP), who run the Global Dressage Festival held at Equestrian Village during the winter show season.

“What’s going to be discussed [at the meeting] is a way to resolve these matters,” Cohen said.

At the site of the old Palm Beach Polo stadium at the corner of South Shore Blvd. and Pierson Road, the Equestrian Village site was originally envisioned to have commercial elements and a hotel. However, the only portion of the site that has been constructed is the existing dressage facility.

In May of last year, a newly seated council majority voted to revoke two measures that were approved by the former council: the property’s master plan and conditional use approvals.

WEP Managing Partner Mark Bellissimo filed the lawsuits after the revocations of the existing permits, which had allowed a show facility on the property and year-round use. An attempt was made last year by Bellissimo to settle the issue, but council members ultimately rejected his proposal and the issue moved forward in court.

The decision caused concern for the 2013 dressage season in Wellington, even launching an advocacy group to urge the council to approve use of the facility for the season.

Ultimately, council members and WEP came to an agreement to allow activity on the site for a certain number of show dates.

“They were allowed to use the property for certain dates,” Cohen said. “But that expired at the end of April.”

The fate of the site’s permanent purpose and design is still being contested in court. If a settlement is reached next week, the property could be used year-round as originally intended.

Bellissimo noted that the temporary permit granted by council members last year does not allow use of the venue for summer shows.

“This economy is not able to make use of [the property] as a summer venue, using the largest covered riding surface in the state,” he said. “It could bring hundreds of horses from all over the state to this community for horse shows.”

Bellissimo said he hopes to see the council’s decision reversed.

“[We] believe that the council should restore the revocation of the venue’s approvals,” Bellissimo said.

Cohen noted that a settlement offer was discussed in a closed session with council members, but could not provide details.

“We’ve had some dialogue, and hopefully this can move in a positive direction,” she said. “It’s a discussion that needs to be had. Hopefully it will be a two-way conversation.”

At the meeting, Bellissimo and his representatives will have a chance to talk to council members about resolving things.

Bellissimo said he hopes to come to a consensus.

“We believe it is in the best interest of all involved to stop the litigation and move forward as a community,” he said.

Florida Senate Letter to the Wellington Council

The foregoing Senator Joseph Abruzzo letter was read to the Wellington Council by Councilman Howard Coates on Tuesday, May 14th 2013.

"This time, ethics commission should not let Wellington Mayor off lightly" - Palm Beach Post Editorial

May 10, 2013

The Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics has a second chance to sanction Wellington Mayor Robert Margolis for accepting an unacceptable cash gift after letting him off the hook.

The commission last week found probable cause to hold a public hearing into allegations that Mr. Margolis violated the county ethics code by taking $2,500 from Neil Hirsch. He is a former lobbyist who opposed developer Mark Bellissimo’s proposed equestrian village project.

The project was the major issue in last year’s municipal elections. The billionaire Jacobs family, part time residents whose estate abuts Mr. Bellissimo’s land, spent a record $500,000 to elect Mr. Margolis and councilmen Matt Wilhite and John Greene. The three have also enjoyed the largess of other equestrian village opponents who donated to their legal defense fund after the original election tally erroneously had Mr. Wilhite and Mr. Green losing.

Mr. Margolis, whose victory was never in doubt, set up the legal defense fund last May, two months after the election had been settled. He received $4,000 from Victoria McCullough, an opponent of the equestrian village, and $2,500 from Mr. Hirsch, a director at the time of the Wellington Equestrian Preservation Alliance. The alliance is funded solely by Lou Jacobs and run by Mat Forest, a lobbyist for the Jacobs’ business interests.

Days after receiving Mr. Hirsch’s check, Mr. Margolis voted to halt the equestrian village project. The ethics commission voted 3-1 to find probable cause that the vote was quid pro quo for the donation.

That is an improvement over the commission’s action in February, when the members found probable cause that Mr. Margolis violated the ethics code by accepting money from Ms. McCullough but dismissed the complaint because Mr. Magolis said he would return the cash. The commission bought the dubious claim that Ms. McCullough’s July check was a replacement for one she wrote in March that would not have violated the code because Mr. Margolis wasn’t sworn in until April.

There is no such cover story to explain away Mr. Hirsch’s check, which violates a prohibition against lobbyists giving public officials more than $100. Commissioner Robin Fiore said that Mr. Margolis has exhibited a pattern of “not doing due diligence.”

She was too kind. The pattern is one of blatant disregard for the ethics Mr. Margolis campaigned to uphold. The commission should impose the harshest penalty.

Rhonda Swan

for The Palm Beach Post

 

Judge Approved the Global Dressage Complex Permit

Wellington Equestrian Partners continues to be successful in the lawsuits over the Equestrian Village project. Last week there was a ruling in favor of WEP in a lawsuit filed by the Jacobs. In their lawsuit the Jacobs were trying to have the courts overturn the Water Management District permitting of the project and require that the entire venue be torn down (covered arena, barns, dressage arena and derby field). The courts ruled that the WMD approvals of the project were issued properly. 

An appeals court had previously ruled in favor of WEP on another Jacobs lawsuit.  In that action the Jacobs contested the original approvals issued by the Village of Wellington for the project. The courts, however, have yet to rule on the litigation in which WEP is seeking to overturn the Village's revocation of approvals for Equestrian Village. Success by WEP in this action will re-establish their ability to use the facility year-round as originally granted by the Village. The Forum might be calling on the equestrian community to attend a Village council meeting to express support for allowing the use of Equestrian Village year-round and in accordance with the original approval.  

PRESS RELEASE

Judge Approves the Global Dressage Complex Permit Wellington, FL - April 28, 2013 - On April 26, 2013, Administrative Law Judge Gary Early issued an Order finding, among other things, that the Global Dressage Complex ("GDC") has met, and in some cases, exceeded applicable South Florida Water Management District ("SFWMD") permitting regulations. Judge Early found that the evidence presented at Trial demonstrated that the GDC project proposal provided reasonable assurances that all applicable SFWMD stormwater management, water quality, and Best Management Practices ("BMP") standards were met. Charles and Kimberly Jacobs (the "Jacobs") filed a legal challenge to the issuance of the GDC Permit. The Jacobs claimed that the GDC facilities were inadequate to accommodate the number of horses expected to use the facilities. Judge Early ruled that the Jacobs "...provided no basis for the supposition other than speculation." The Judge found that the GDC's horse-washing facilities were more than adequate. Moreover, the Judge concluded that the GDC's BMP Plan was "...more advanced than the minimum requirements of the Village of Wellington, and more stringent than BMPs approved for other equestrian facilities in Wellington." "This ruling is a huge step forward in ensuring that the Global Dressage Complex is a worldwide, premier equestrian event venue," stated Mark Bellissimo. "The Global Dressage Complex events bring thousands of visitors and event participants to the Village of Wellington each year and create significant benefits for the Village and the Palm Beach County economy." CONTACT: John Fumero, Esquire: 561-315-4595 Please visit www.equestriansport.com or call 561-793-5867 for more information.