CopyCited 8 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2008 WL 762496
...Transportation (Department), appellee, which adopted the factual and legal findings of the hearing officer's Recommended Order. The order concluded that appellants did not have administrative standing to challenge the Department's implementation of section 335.065, Florida Statutes, and it interpreted section 335.065, Florida Statutes, as giving the Department almost absolute discretion in dispensing with bicycle lanes on state road projects. Although we find that appellants had standing to challenge the Department's implementation of section 335.065 in the State Road A1A project and we agree with appellants' interpretation of section 335.065, Florida Statutes, we are constrained to affirm the final order because appellants waived their right to go to a formal hearing before the Division of Administrative Hearings by not requesting a formal hearing at any time....
...erred to the Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH). The hearing officer filed a Recommended Order on February 26, 2007, concluding appellants did not have administrative standing to challenge the Department's actions, and it also concluded that section 335.065, Florida Statutes, gives the Department discretion to implement the statute and does not require bicycle lanes and pedestrian ways to be established above all other concerns. Standing Whether appellants have standing to challenge the Department's implementation of section 335.065, Florida Statutes, is a question of law....
...Id. (citing Fla. Home Builders,
412 So.2d at 353). Considering the APA's policy, the supreme court's decision in NAACP, and the factors enunciated in Agrico, it is clear that if anyone has the ability to challenge the Department's interpretation of section
335.065, which specifically relates to bicycle lanes, it would be those seriously involved in bicycling....
...bicycles if bicycle lanes are not constructed pursuant to the Department's standards. Under the second prong of the Agrico test, appellants' substantial injury is of the type which the proceeding is designed to protect. Id. As we will discuss below, section 335.065, Florida Statutes, is entitled "Bicycle and pedestrian ways along state roads and transportation facilities." The statute, as analyzed below, sets forth a policy for incorporating bicycle lanes in construction and reconstruction projects, and it further delineates situations where the Department need not establish the bicycle lanes. § 335.065, Fla....
...laining the purpose of Agrico ). In this case, appellants' substantial interests will be affected by the Department's proposed action. Thus, we agree with appellants and find they had standing to challenge the Department's actions. Interpretation of Section 335.065, Florida Statutes While the parties argue over the interpretation of section 335.065, Florida Statutes, we find the statute is unambiguous. It provides, in relevant part: 335.065....
...We interpret this statute to mean that the Department is obligated to consider bicycle and pedestrian ways in the planning process and to establish bicycle and pedestrian ways in conjunction with the construction, reconstruction, or other change of any state transportation facilities. § 335.065(1)(a), Fla. Stat. Bicycle paths shall be established unless the Department exercises its discretion not to establish bicycle and pedestrian ways where any of the conditions in section 335.065(1)(b) are demonstrated....
