The court decision is in.
Holmes Beach voters will not have a vote on the fate of the beachfront tree house built without permits — at least not anytime soon.
An Aug. 15 ruling by 12th Circuit Judge Don T. Hall effectively halts the owners’ efforts to grandfather the tree house through the ballot box.
The order comes one month to the day after the two sides argued the case in court.
At the end of the July 15 hearing, Hall asked Jim Dye of Dye, Deitrich, Petruff & St. Paul, for the city of Holmes Beach, and David Levin of Icard Merrill for the owners, Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen, to submit proposed their proposed orders for his consideration.
With his signature, Hall adopted word-for- word Dye’s order.
The order concludes the owners’ proposed voter initiative amounts to a development order.
It reasoned the initiative would authorize after-the- fact construction and, as such, the city was “permanently prohibited” by state law from placing it on the ballot.
Levin lost his arguments for exceptions and for his clients’ rights, as well as his plea for the rights of voters who signed the initiative petition.
In August 2013, Tran and Hazen submitted petitions signed by the requisite number of the city’s electorate to support a city ordinance, and when the city failed to pass it, it required city officials to put the measure on the ballot.
Dye filed the case, requesting a judge prohibit the vote for a development order in September 2013.
Hall’s decision excuses the city from the charter mandate.