Land Use, Zoning and Planning Lawyers in Denver, Colorado
The laws governing how land can and cannot be used in Denver, Colorado are fairly complex, and can be confusing to laypersons. This should provide a basic overview.
Local governments will usually divide the city or town into sections, called "zones," each of which is designated for a particular use, such as residential homes, commercial businesses, agriculture, manufacturing, etc. This process is known as "zoning."
There are a lot of rationales and purposes for zoning laws. In general, they're based in common sense: chemical plants shouldn't be built next to daycare centers, pig farms should not be built in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and other simple principles similar to that. Zoning laws, by keeping conflicting land uses separate, make life easier for all parties, ensuring that property values will be preserved, and that necessary industries can be conducted where they will not bother anyone.
On the other hand, zoning laws recognize and attempt to accommodate the necessity of factories and other industrial activities. They simply seek to ensure that such activities are conducted in a way that they don't conflict with the rights of adjacent landowners to use and enjoy their property in peace.
What if My Property Violates Denver, Colorado's Zoning Laws?
If a condition on your property violates the local zoning laws of Denver, Colorado, there are a few different solutions.
It should be obvious that the first option you should consider is to correct the violation. If doing this wouldn't cost you very much, or pose a major inconvenience, you should obviously do this.
Of course, simply fixing a zoning violation isn't always affordable or easy, and may interfere with your planned use of your property. For example, you might have just undertaken a significant remodeling of your home, and later found out that some small part of it technically doesn't conform to Denver, Colorado's zoning laws. If this happens to you, you can apply to your local zoning board for what's known as a "variance." This is simply a decree by the zoning board that the particular rule your property violates no longer applies. The Supreme Court has held that local zoning boards have to grant variances when the violation is very minor, and enforcing the ordinance would be unduly burdensome and not in the public interest.
Also, if the zoning laws covering your property have changed, and some aspect of it is now violating the new rules, these changes can generally not be enforced against you, because it would be unfair to apply a new law retroactively.
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How Can a Denver, Colorado Attorney Help?
If you suddenly become involved in a zoning dispute with your local government, it's essential to seek competent legal representation. The counsel of an experienced Denver, Colorado real estate attorney can make it much easier for you to act within the law to use your own property as you wish, or at least be as free as possible to make improvements to your land.
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Life in Denver
Denver is the largest city in the State of Colorado and is known to most as the "Mile High City." Nestled in the South Platte River Valley just to the east of the Rocky Mountains, Denver offers outstanding parks like Washington, Cheesman, and City Parks as well as one of the most scenic amphitheatres, Red Rocks Amphitheatre. It's hosted bands from the Beatles, Jethro Tull, John Denver, the Grateful Dead, and was the favorite of Rock legend Jimi Hendrix. There have been a number of famous recordings done at Red Rocks Amphitheatre for various bands live albums.Denver is a bustling center of commerce. As the largest city for hundreds of miles, Denver's central location among the Mountain States makes it an ideal location for distribution and transportation of goods going to states in the Southwest and West. Manufacturing plants and corporate headquarters including those of United Airlines, Lockheed Martin, the Coors Brewing Company all call Denver home.
In more recent times the "Mile High City" has been the center of a dot-com boom. Mapquest, DIRECTV, Starz-Encore, and Qwest Communications are just a few of the telecommunications companies who have moved into Denver for it's low cost and high quality of living. Local Denver lawyer are well acquainted with local legal problems.
