News

By Jane Smith

    The county’s inspector general won’t be getting involved in the Delray Beach City Commission’s decision to allow an iPic movie theater to open in its downtown.
    On Aug. 18, the City Commission held a quasi-judicial hearing on the iPic project that will include eight movie theaters, office space in two levels, retail space along Southeast Fourth Avenue and a three-level parking garage.
The hearing spilled over into the next morning when commissioners voted 4-1 for the theater concept, 3-2 for the alley abandonment and 3-2 for the height increase.
    Vice Mayor Shelly Petrolia, who voted no to all three, filed a complaint Aug. 21 with the Inspector General’s Office.
She objected to the city giving the alley to iPic’s owners, which she said violated the city’s land use regulations that say rights of way should not be abandoned if needed for a public purpose.
    The Inspector General’s Office responded in late September to Petrolia.
The office does not have the authority that allows “reweighing evidence presented to duly-elected officials in their official capacities at quasi-judicial hearings or substituting our judgment with regard to discretionary decisions.”        “I understand their decision and I respect it,” Petrolia said. “I don’t think they wanted to insert themselves in a decision-making process by a city commission.
    “But I am disappointed we violated our rules and didn’t follow our own codes.