Monrovia Zoning Attorney

Find the right Zoning Planning & Land Use attorney in Monrovia, CA

Zoning Planning & Land Use Law in California

The laws controlling how land can and cannot be used in Monrovia, California are fairly intricate, and can be confusing to laypersons. This should provide a basic overview.

Local governments will normally divide the city or town into sections, called "zones," each of which is designated for a specific use, such as residential homes, commercial businesses, agriculture, manufacturing, etc. This process is known as "zoning."

Zoning serves many different purposes - but it its major one is to increase or preserve property values by ensuring that conflicting uses don't result in legal disputes. Obviously, if you bought a house in a residential neighborhood, and your neighbor could just convert his property into a steel mill, your property's value as a residential lot would decrease substantially.

Zoning laws typically acknowledge the necessities of things like factories, sewage treatment plants, and stockyards, but recognize that such activities shouldn't be done in residential areas.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Monrovia, California

Zoning laws are commonly quite extensive and meticulous, and it's extremely possible that your property in Monrovia, California contains some minor zoning violation that you don't know about. If this happens to you, you have considerable legal protections.

First of all, and most simply, the owner could just fix the violation. If the violation isn't very considerable, and fixing it wouldn't cost very much, this is likely the best and simplest option.

What if, however, you've invested a considerable amount of time and money into making an improvement on your property, only to find that it breaks your local zoning laws in some minor way? In this case, you can apply for a variance. This is basically an exception to the zoning rules. If declining to enforce these rules would not harm anyone, and would not do much to advance the purpose of Monrovia, California's zoning laws, a variance will normally be granted.

Additionally, zoning ordinances cannot be applied against you retroactively. For instance, suppose you built a 3-story house on your property, and your property was zoned to allow 3-story houses to be built at the time of construction. And then, years later, the area you reside in is re-zoned, to only allow 2-story houses. Can the local government force you to remove a whole level of your house? Of course not. Applying a law retroactively is unconstitutional. On the other hand, any future changes you want to make to your property will have to comply with the applicable zoning ordinance as it is currently written.

What Can A Monrovia, California Attorney Do?

If you are in the process of physically altering your property, you are almost sure to face some contentions having to do with local zoning laws. If you find that zoning laws are making it very hard to use your property as you see fit, you may have legal recourse, normally in the form of a variance. Of course, your chances of success in any zoning dispute will be immeasurably increased if you have the assistance of a qualified Monrovia, California attorney.

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Life in Monrovia

Monrovia, California is a city in Los Angeles County, in the San Gabriel Mountains. Its population is currently about 36,000 people.

Monrovia is one of the oldest incorporated cities in the Los Angeles area, having been formally incorporated in 1887. In the modern era, Monrovia, California is perhaps best known as being the location of the original McDonald's restaurant. Several other major retail and food service companies are headquartered in Monrovia, California, including Trader Joe's and Original Tommy's.

The largest employers in Monrovia are in the education, healthcare, and retail sectors. These industries employ people in a wide range of professions, including administrative professionals such as accountants, human resource personnel, and lawyers.

Thanks to its relatively large population and diverse economy, Monrovia, California attorneys are experienced in handling a wide variety of cases. If you need legal advice, a Monrovia, California lawyer can almost certainly help you with your legal issues.

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