Temple Zoning Attorney

Find the right Zoning Planning & Land Use attorney in Temple, TX

Zoning Planning & Land Use Law in Texas

Temple, Texas has laws which control how individual parcels of land can be used, and how they cannot. These rules aren't always simple, and this article should serve as an introduction to some of the most frequent issues that homeowners might face, though it is not meant to turn a layperson into an expert.

Municipal governments which practice zoning usually follow a similar scheme: the town or city is divided up into "zones," or areas in which particular types of use are permitted. For instance, the downtown area might be zoned for commercial and office use, and perhaps for large, multi-unit apartment buildings. The surrounding areas will usually be zoned for residential and small-scale commercial use, and the outskirts zoned for manufacturing and other heavy industry.

Zoning serves many different purposes - but it its general 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 Temple, Texas

Zoning laws are commonly quite extensive and meticulous, and it's extremely possible that your property in Temple, Texas 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.

Occasionally, however, a landowner wants to make improvements on their property which might constitute a slight violation of Temple, Texas's zoning laws. In this case, the owner can apply for a variance - an official agreement from the local government to not enforce a certain zoning regulation. Typically, variances are granted when the violation is extremely minor, and, enforcing the letter of the zoning law would not do much to advance its broader purpose.

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 Temple, Texas Attorney Do?

If you find yourself facing zoning or other land use issues, it's critical to have good legal advice. A seasoned Temple, Texas attorney will help you work within the law to ensure that you are as free as possible to make the use of your land that you want.

Talk to a Real Estate Law Attorney now!

Life in Temple

Temple is located in Bell County, Texas. Per the 2010 census it has a population of 66,102 people. The city holds the nickname "The Wildflower Capital of Texas." Going around the city, one will see an array of beautiful wildflowers.

The primary employer is the health care industry. There are medical students and physicians practically everywhere. Most of these individuals work at, or are trained in, the Veterans' Hospital Center, Scott White Memorial Hospital, and Texas AM Science Center College of Medicine.

There are small law offices that are well established and located in downtown Temple. These offices are run by well-experienced lawyers who prefer to have a personal interaction with their clients, and have grown tired of a big firm setting. Thus, residents and local businesses have very sharp and capable attorneys to cater to their legal needs.

Past famous residents include Frank W. Mayborn, Darren Trumeter, Lance Berkman, Brian Skinner, Rip Torn, Sammy Baugh, and Ted Poe.

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