EXHIBIT B

D

MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE AMICUS CURAE BRIEF IN RESPONSE TO WALMART STORES
EAST LPS MOTION TO EXPEDITE DECISION ON PETITION FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI

SUBSCRIBE

Miami-Dade County

Ruling in Miami Walmart lawsuit may resolve little

BY DAVID SMILEY - DSMILEY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
10/24/2014 7:11 PM | Updated: 10/24/2014 7:11 PM

Rendering of the Midtown Walmart

ARCHITECTS

ZYSKOVICH

In the David-and-Goliath fight between Miami residents and Walmart, a ruling last week by a panel
of judges that a planned Midtown superstore narrowly violated the citys zoning laws has been
hailed by foes of the worlds largest retailer as a significant victory.
Three judges told City Hall it upheld a permit for a 203,000-square-foot project last year in
departure from the essential requirements of the law. Walmart, for all its heft and high-powered
attorneys including former Miami mayor Manny Diaz was told to go back and secure a
proper permit.
But in the wake of the ruling, Walmart and the Miami City Attorneys office havent flinched.
Plans are already under way to bring the issue of Walmarts permit back to the Miami
Commission as early as next month for what attorneys believe should be a quick fix. The retailer,
happily stating that the court sided mostly with Walmart and the city, is predicting it will receive
an amended permit in short order.

Thats raising objections from Walmarts opponents, who say the ruling demands the entire
permitting process must start from scratch.
If the city of Miami dares to defy the ruling of those three judges and break its own laws again
after the judges ruled they broke its laws a first time, well sue once again, pledged anti-Walmart
activist Grant Stern.
Stern and others have been fighting Walmart since the summer of 2012, when the company
submitted an application for its three-story superstore bounded by Northeast 29th and 31st
streets, and North Miami Avenue and Midtown Boulevard. The project was eventually approved
administratively through a Class II Special Permit by Miamis planning director, Francisco Garcia.
Stern and others appealed, saying Walmarts project conflicted with the citys zoning code and
required major variances. The citys Planning Zoning and Appeals Board rejected the appeal, and
then the city commission upheld that decision.
Undeterred, Walmart foes petitioned Miami-Dades circuit court, leading to last weeks decision by
a three-judge panel. The panel agreed with the city and Walmart on most issues. But, noting the
petitioners most compelling argument was that improperly granted variances required the
application be resubmitted, the panel said Walmarts receipt of five loading berths was more than
the three total allowed by zoning code.
The panel then quashed the commissions decision upholding the zoning boards denial of the
appeal, and remanded the issue back to the city.
Activists declared victory. But so did Walmart, which swiftly issued a statement saying the retail
chain would look forward to receiving an amended permit as soon as possible. Miami City
Attorney Victoria Mendez said this week that the city commission will now reconsider the appeal,
but only on the narrow issue of the number of loading berths.
It will be a hearing limited to that issue, Mendez wrote in an email.
As long as Walmart which declined to comment for this story is amenable to three berths,
the commission can correct the issue and the permit can be amended administratively, she said.
Garcia, the planning director, said that might actually result in a worse project, one that would
comply with the courts curious ruling but would generate more street traffic, with trucks forced
to wait to unload their wares.

I dont see how five loading berths makes it worse, he said. If anything it makes it better.
Paul Savage, attorney for the petitioners, said his clients simply want the city to follow its own
laws. He said his clients will fight to ensure thats what happens.
Should the Commission seek to skirt the correct and proper process again, the Court will no
doubt quash the Commissions Resolution again for misunderstanding and flouting its ruling,
said Savage. The City Commission cannot amend, ratify or breathe life into a void, illegal permit.

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