Learning about Laws Concerning Automobile Incidents

Perhaps you bought a residential property years ago for building a home, but now you'd like to turn a few acres into a pasture and raise grass-fed beef for a living. You can only start using your property for activities limited to a different zoning category after getting your request granted by the local zoning board. No matter whether you're seeking to turn a vacant lot into an industrial factory or transform recreational land into residential property, you need an experienced lawyer to guide you through the process.

Interpreting Local Codes

Zoning codes are part of the municipal code of your county or city, which is naturally written in hard-to-understand legalese. You may not even need rezoning to follow your plans for using your land due once you get a better understanding of what the code really means. Getting a clear grasp on the exact parameters of the zoning rules also helps you formulate a clearer explanation of your future plans and how the zoning change would help you. Working with a lawyer in your area works best because they're already aware of the codes, but an experienced legal professional anywhere in the country can decipher the text for you.

Proving Ownership

You can't get property rezoned unless you're the legal owner of it. This might seem obvious, but you can hold a deed in your name without actually being the legal owner due to mistakes made in the past regarding liens, titles, and other complicated parts of ownership. A lawyer can execute title searches and help you build a portfolio proving ownership if there's any confusion about it.

Documenting Changes

Many people seek out rezoning because a neighbor or development company did something that made the property hard to use as it was intended. For example, the person owning the land bordering your plot starts a massive cattle feedlot and you'd like to convert your residential land into agricultural so he can buy it and expand, allowing you to move away from the smell of manure. If you're seeking a change because of external changes around your property, you'll need a lot of documentation to prove how the land used to be used and when the changes took place. A lawyer also knows exactly how to show the changes are really affecting you.

Meeting Deadlines

Since you've got to notify the public about your plans to change to a different zoning category, there are plenty of deadlines and time periods to keep track of during the process. Taking a notice down a single day early ruins the whole claim and forces you to start from step one again. The lawyer can file public notices on your behalf and let you know when it's time to put up or take down your signs.

Assisting with Variances

Of course, the rezoning process only works if your planned use falls squarely within the limits of a different property use category. If your desire to run a resort or build a tower doesn't fit into any existing zoning options, you'll need to file for a variance that gives you permission to break the rules. Variances are much more complicated because zoning boards have already decided to set certain rules so the community grows in a way that benefits everyone. For example, you'll need to meet requirements like:

• Matching the character and style of the community despite not fitting the existing codes.
• Proving your need for change doesn't arise from something you did to the land.
• Needing a change due to the individual property conditions instead of the overall neighborhood.

Unless you're well-acquainted with land use law yourself, you may not even know how your property is currently zoned. Talk to a law office before making any major changes to the land, even if your neighbors have done more and gotten away with it.