Judge validates GMD bonds

Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Rochelle Curley rules that the town's issuance of bonds for an underground utilities project was legal.

By Robin Hartill
| 1:02 p.m. April 4, 2016

Voters approved a project in November that will bury all utilities on Gulf of Mexico Drive. A second project to bury remaining islandwide utilities was approved via referendum in March.

Longboat Key
News

Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Rochelle Curley validated the issuance of bonds not to exceed $25.25 million that Longboat Key voters approved in November for a Gulf of Mexico Drive underground utilities project.

In a March 30 ruling, Curley determined that the issuance "is for proper and legal purposes and is fully authorized by law."

Curley ruled after a March 24 hearing in which she heard testimony from the town manager, town consultants and the public.

The hearing lasted two hours, according to a letter Town Attorney Maggie Mooney-Portale sent the Longboat Key Town Commission, which stated that Curley did not rule but indicated she would do so soon.

The town sought the validation hearing in case of legal challenges to the referendum.