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Committee asks city attorney to refine proposal requiring disclosure of settlement agreements tied to land-use applications
Summary
Vice Mayor David Suarez proposed expanding an existing resilience-code disclosure requirement to cover private applications before the commission, require material-term disclosure and consider broader remedies; the committee continued the item to allow legal review of retroactivity, penalties and enforceability.
Vice Mayor David Suarez presented a measure April 15 that would expand Miami Beachresiliency-code disclosure rule to cover private development applications before the city commission and to require disclosure of material terms of settlement agreements between applicants and third parties.
City Attorney (referred to in the transcript as Nick) explained current law requires applicants to disclose the existence of settlement agreements in writing when making applications before four land-use boards (board of adjustment, design review board, historic preservation board and planning board), and to provide a verbal disclosure at the start of a hearing. The proposed amendment would extend disclosure requirements to private applications before the city commission and would require disclosure of the material terms of agreements.
Vice Mayor Suarez proposed more robust amendments in committee: mandatory submission of signed copies of relevant agreements (not summaries), extending the definition of covered agreements to include oral or informal pacts and third-party consideration, indexing nondisclosure agreements so they are listed and available when disclosure becomes permissible, and potential retroactive application to applications currently under review. Suarez also suggested sanctions for noncompliance, including possible multi-year bans on filing new applications by applicants, principals and related entities, and potential liability or disqualification for legal representatives and lobbyists who fail to ensure compliance.
The city attorney advised caution and recommended additional research because private parties generally have the right to contract and there are limits on imposing retroactive liabilities and on what penalties a municipality may lawfully impose. The committee agreed to continue the item to the June meeting for legal review and drafting of enforceable language tailored to disclosure while assessing retroactivity and appropriate sanctions.
Why this matters: the proposal seeks to increase transparency about private deals and agreements that may influence public land-use decisions, while the city attorney highlighted constitutional and contractual limits that require careful drafting.
Next steps: city attorneyto research enforceability, retroactivity and penalty structure and return to committee with recommended language.
