At least publicly, it all begins with opinions from city attorneys. The instructions were basic: city code applies, unless the commission waives them. It sounds innocuous, but from there you begin to hear people say, the power of the city is in the hands of the commission. From there they move on to, the city has sovereign immunity. People who have no legal background, just assume that once the city commission approves something, it's done.
But, an outsider might see something different. They look at the actual wording of the city code and it states. "
a)ll powers of the city shall be vested in the commission, except as otherwise provided by law or this Charter." It seems like there's no conflict. But that's because they don't see what's happening in the rest of the state. They don't realize that local government, with the help of the Florida League of Cities, is wrenching power from the State and collecting it at the local level. In addition, Federal law is shut out because the Fourteenth Amendment is absent in just about everything that happens at a community development planning level locally, (especially if they're dealing with private, residential communities). No one can challenge them. It would require homeowners to launch resources they don't have to traverse the gauntlet of ethically challenged lawyers to find one that will fight their cause in court. It just doesn't happen often enough in Florida to make a difference.
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