Port St. Lucie Zoning Attorney

Find the right Zoning Planning & Land Use attorney in Port St. Lucie, FL

Zoning Planning & Land Use Law in Florida

The laws governing how land can and cannot be used in Port St. Lucie, Florida are fairly confusing, and can be confusing to laypersons. This should provide a basic overview.

Localities normally divide their jurisdictions into segments, referred to as "zones," on which particular types of use are permitted. For example, one area of a town might be zoned for residential use, a nearby one for commercial use, and areas on the outskirts zoned for industrial use. This practice is called "zoning."

Zoning serves various 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 considerably.

Zoning also serves the interests of industry, as well as residents. By ensuring that there are places where heavy industry can take place, well-planned zoning regulations will ensure that industrialists are free to practice their trade, and that residents will not be disturbed by those activities, which makes industry more proficient by helping it avoid costly nuisance lawsuits.

Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Port St. Lucie, Florida

If a condition on your property violates the local zoning laws of Port St. Lucie, Florida, there are a few different solutions.

The most obvious solution is to correct the problem, so your property is no longer in violation of local zoning laws. If the violation is minor, and correcting it would not be very costly, this is likely the best way to go.

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 typically be granted if the violation doesn't harm anyone, and enforcing Port St. Lucie, Florida's zoning laws to the letter would not, in this case, advance their purposes.

Additionally, if the zoning laws covering your property have changed, and some aspect of it is now violating the new rules, these changes can usually not be enforced against you, because it would be unfair to apply a new law retroactively.

What Can A Port St. Lucie, Florida Attorney Do?

If you are in the process of physically altering your property, you are almost certain to face some concerns having to do with local zoning laws. If you find that zoning laws are making it very challenging to use your property as you see fit, you may have legal recourse, typically in the form of a variance. Of course, your chances of success in any zoning dispute will be immeasurably increased if you have the help of a qualified Port St. Lucie, Florida attorney.

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Life in Port St. Lucie

Port St. Lucie is major city in St. Lucie County, Florida. It is one of the fastest growing regions in the country. From the year 2000 to the year 2009, the population of Port St. Lucia, Florida grew from 88,000 to 155,000, making it one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

Tradition Square is one of Port St. Lucie's main residential communities and has been listed as one of America's top 100 communities. It is modeled in a 1950's style and serves as the center of Port St. Lucie. The city is host to an abundance of golf courses, including some top PGA courses. Port St. Lucie is sometimes called "Park St. Lucie", because the city maintains a large number of parks and entertainment centers.

Active development in the city of Port St. Lucie, Florida has also increased the number of employment opportunities in the area. In particular, the Florida Center of Innovation houses two biotech companies- the Vaccine Gene Therapy Institute and the Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies. The Center is a major source of economic activity in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Lawyers in Port St. Lucie, Florida file many legal claims at the St. Lucie County Court ("West Annex Building"). Port St. Lucie lawyers offer legal assistance in a broad range of fields.

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