{"id":162046,"date":"2021-01-21T11:50:01","date_gmt":"2021-01-21T19:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=162046"},"modified":"2021-01-21T13:53:40","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T21:53:40","slug":"judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge Upholds Miami Mayor’s Edgewater Casino Veto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was within his rights when he vetoed the approval of a casino with a jai alai fronton for the city\u2019s Edgewater neighborhood. That\u2019s according to Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, whose verdict delivered a huge setback to the plan on Tuesday, The Daily Business Review<\/em> reports.<\/p>\n

\"Miami
The owners of Miami\u2019s Magic City Casino were dealt a blow in their bid to build a casino in Edgewater. (Image: Miami Herald<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hanzman said Suarez\u2019s decision to overrule the City Council\u2019s approval of a land-use settlement for the casino was legitimate. The city charter gives the mayor broad powers to veto any commission vote on land use, he added.<\/p>\n

This expansive, all-inclusive authority was not handed out willy-nilly and without forethought,”<\/strong> Hanzman said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“The decision to give the mayor this broad veto power was carefully considered and enacted into law because \u2026 \u2018land-use decisions\u2019 can dramatically impact the health and well-being of a community,\u201d Hanzman continued.<\/p>\n

Edgewater Casino Meets Local Resistance <\/strong><\/h2>\n

West Flagler Associates has been pushing to establish the gaming facility on Biscayne Boulevard in the up-and-coming Edgewater neighborhood for several years but has met local resistance.<\/a> The company is controlled by the Havenick family, which already operates two other gaming venues: the Magic City Casino<\/a> in Miami and Naples-Fort Myers Greyhound Racing & Poker in Bonita Springs.<\/p>\n

\n

The Edgewater casino would not be a full-fledged Las Vegas-style casino, but a pari-mutuel venue with a card room. Miami-Dade County is one of two in Florida that authorizes pari-mutuel venues to offer slot machines. But the Seminole tribe holds exclusivity on most casino-style games in the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Funding the fight against the venue is local auto mogul Norman Braman and Jorge P\u00e9rez, a real-estate tycoon. They sued the City and West Flager to ensure Suarez\u2019s veto was upheld after it was contested by City Attorney\u00a0Victoria M\u00e9ndez.<\/p>\n

Hanzman emphasized that his ruling was no reflection on the merits of the settlement. It was only concerned with whether the veto was legal.<\/p>\n

“The city may (or may not) end up in a far worse position as a result of the mayor\u2019s decision. But that also is of no concern to the court,\u201d <\/strong>Hanzman wrote.<\/p>\n

Two Ways Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n

All is not lost for the proposed Edgewater casino. West Flagler\u2019s lawyer, Joseph DeMaria, told the<\/em> Daily Business Review <\/em>that there were two ways to proceed. First, the company will try its luck by going through the commission process again with a slightly modified proposal — any mayoral veto can be overridden by four-fifths of the city commission. Second, it could renew a federal lawsuit against the City.<\/p>\n

West Flagler sued the City in a federal case in 2019, which ultimately led to the settlement approval by City commissioners.<\/p>\n

We have already resubmitted a settlement proposal to the city attorney and asked that they schedule it for the next commission meeting,\u201d<\/strong> DeMaria told The Miami Herald<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe new proposal provides for a jai alai fronton and card room, but no slot machines, and waives all attorney\u2019s fees, which could run up into the millions. If the city commission doesn\u2019t approve it, or if the commission not override the mayor\u2019s veto, we\u2019re going to court,” DeMaria continued.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez was within his rights when he vetoed the approval of a casino with a jai alai fronton for the city\u2019s Edgewater neighborhood. That\u2019s according to Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman, whose verdict delivered a huge setback to the plan on Tuesday, The Daily Business Review reports. Hanzman said Suarez\u2019s decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":162047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJudge Upholds Miami Mayor's Edgewater Casino Veto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"West Flagler Associates will go back to the drawing board in bid to build Edgewater Casino after judge says Mayor has right to veto plan.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Judge Upholds Miami Mayor's Edgewater Casino Veto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"West Flagler Associates will go back to the drawing board in bid to build Edgewater Casino after judge says Mayor has right to veto plan.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-21T19:50:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-21T21:53:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mag-city.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"641\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/\",\"name\":\"Judge Upholds Miami Mayor's Edgewater Casino Veto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mag-city.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-21T19:50:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-21T21:53:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"West Flagler Associates will go back to the drawing board in bid to build Edgewater Casino after judge says Mayor has right to veto plan.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/judge-upholds-miami-mayors-edgewater-casino-veto\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mag-city.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/mag-city.jpg\",\"width\":1140,\"height\":641,\"caption\":\"Where the Magic Happens: Magic City Casino, a rooftop view. 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