Pomona Zoning Attorney

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

Zoning Planning & Land Use Law in California

The laws governing how land can and cannot be used in Pomona, California are fairly difficult, 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 particular use, such as residential homes, commercial businesses, agriculture, manufacturing, etc. This process is known as "zoning."

Zoning serves many different purposes - but it its basic 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 simply convert his property into a steel mill, your property's value as a residential lot would decrease substantially.

While zoning laws appear to be geared just toward protecting residents, they also protect industry, by ensuring that they are free to conduct their business without getting caught up in the several legal disputes that would be inevitable if they were closer to a residential area.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Pomona, California

You have quite a few options if you find that a planned or current use of your property violates Pomona, California's zoning regulations.

It should be clear, however, that the ideal solution is to simply fix any condition on your property which is in violation of a local zoning law. If the violation is not serious, and correcting it won't substantially interfere with your use of your property, this is probably the best course of action.

But what happens if you've invested a large amount of effort and money into improving your land, and you later discover that you've committed some relatively minor zoning violation? You are generally entitled to seek what is known as a "variance" in these cases. A variance is simply when your local government makes a small exception to the zoning rules to accommodate a small violation that would be difficult to fix. A variance will normally be granted if the violation doesn't harm anyone, and enforcing Pomona, California's zoning laws to the letter would not, in this case, advance their purposes.

You are also protected if your land is currently in full compliance with local zoning regulations, but the area where your land sits is re-zoned, and your property is suddenly not in compliance with the new zoning regulations. Typically, these new regulations cannot be used to force you to change existing conditions on your property. No laws can be applied retroactively, under the U.S. Constitution. Of course, if you make any improvements on your land after the law changes, you'll have to comply with the new law.

What Can A Pomona, California Attorney Do?

If you want to make improvements to your property, apply for a variance, or contest a zoning regulation as being applied to you retroactively, you have a right to do so, including some constitutional protections. However, your chances of prevailing in a zoning disagreement will be markedly improved if you hire an accomplished Pomona, California real estate attorney to help.

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Life in Pomona

Pomona, CA is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It has a population of approximately 150,000, making it the 4th largest city in Los Angeles County.

Pomona was first settled in the 1830s, when the territory was still part of Mexico. The first Anglo-Americans arrived just a few years prior to the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which resulted in California becoming part of the U.S.

Modernly, Pomona is perhaps best known for being home to the Fairplex, which hosts the annual L.A. County Fair. Pomona, CA is also known for the Pomona Raceway, which is a major hub for competitive drag-racing.

Like many cities in the Inland Empire region, the economy of Pomona, CA is heavily based on services, education, and healthcare. In Pomona, one of the largest employers is the California Polytechnic University, Pomona. Some of this school's graduates go on to law school, some of whom become successful lawyers in Pomona, CA.

Because Pomona has a well-educated populace and a diverse economy, the local legal profession is quite sophisticated for a town its size. This means that a Pomona, CA attorney can probably help you with whatever legal issues you're likely to face.

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