Daytona Beach, FL – A petition drive looking to take the fate of beach driving away from the Volusia County Council is ruled unconstitutional.
Volusia County Circuit Judge Sandra Upchurch ruled on Friday that Let Volusia Vote’s proposed amendment to the county charter is “facially unconstitutional” and that the county won’t have to place it on the November 2016 ballot.
Upchurch’s ruling comes 4 days after hearing legal arguments on the matter from Let Volusia Vote and Volusia County.
The proposed charter amendment asked to amend the Volusia County Charter so that any decisions impacting beach access to the public is decided directly at the ballot box instead of through the County Council.
Volusia County decided to challenge the amendment in court just before Let Volusia Vote hit the amount of verified voter signatures needed to get it on the ballot earlier this summer.
County Attorney Dan Eckert argued that the petition drive wasn’t legal because it’s a violation of state law and that he wanted the courts to decide if it was before allowing the question to get on the ballot.
Prior to Upchurch’s ruling, Let Volusia Vote Chairman Greg Gimbert insisted the petition drive is legal based on all the legal counsel and opinions his group sought before bringing it to the public.
In an appearance on WNDB’s Marc Bernier program after the ruling, Gimbert says his group plans to appeal within 30 days and called Upchurch’s ruling a “folly”.
“The ruling is so disconnected from legal fact [that] it will one day be proven a farce,” Gimbert added. “There’s no legal basis to keep our amendment off the ballot and if [the ruling] was purchased or achieved otherwise, that’s up to the community to get to the bottom of.”
Let Volusia Vote gathered over 22,000 signatures from county voters to get the proposed charter amendment on the ballot, nearly 6,000 more than they actually needed.
The petition also met the requirement of getting at least 5% of signatures from verified voters in each of the county’s 5 districts.
A similar petition created in 1986 after the Daytona Beach City Commission passed an ordinance banning driving on the beach at night was also ruled unconstitutional once it got enough voter signatures to get on the ballot.
Volusia County cited that judicial decision as one of the reasons they felt Let Volusia Vote’s petition had no legal standing.
This comes in an ongoing public debate over the future of beach driving in Volusia County between those who feel having cars on the beach is an economic impediment – especially for tourism – and those who call it a vital part of the area’s heritage that needs to be preserved.
Click here to read the full text of Upchurch’s ruling.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.