I have a friend who needs to fight back against a big home builder, in a big Texas county. She is one of us but can’t post here yet so I’m helping 😁 The meeting is next week and she is preparing/researching. Searching the website showed no opposition to the re-zoning request so she is making sure what she submits shows up as opposition. The homeowners in her neighborhood have banded together and are fighting. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I live in FL and TX and FL are building like crazy to accommodate everyone moving to these 2 states and they are rapidly destroying ranch land In the process. We need to be smarter about development or we won’t be able to grow our food when we don’t have the DS suppressing population growth in the future.
Need to find a land use attorney. It is very hard to stop. The best you can probably hope for is to scale back plans. Remember that developers over ask knowing they will usually have to give back in zoning disputes. If you are in a county desperate for taxes it won't happen. But you need a land use attorney who is a tree hugger. Or a lawyer looking into shortcuts that were taken or steps that were ignored in favor of the developer. I have seen contstruction stop on projects because city attorneys did not follow their own laws. It may take a technicality. Will need a lot of money to fight. Good luck.
You better start talking to your ranchers, then
The ranchers often don’t have family who want to keep ranching. And no one wants to buy the ranch because cattle ranching isn’t profitable, thanks to the government. The ranchers have been boxed in by the government. On purpose. A familiar theme everywhere in the world.
We need people who want to start farming and ranching again and people who will fight back against the local and state government. I think Yellowstone came along at just this point in time to show us how to fight for those creating the food.
I've lived in Florida for many years. It's a mess here, with respect to land development...going all the way back to Golden Gate Estates. The problem is political-appointees in Tallahassee who are beholden to the commercial developers, and will fast-track permitting when palms are greased.
The time has long gone when Florida should have made the painful decision to stop population growth in the peninsula region. The land can not support the numbers of people living down there. One symptom is the land subsidence occurring in South Beach...often cited by climate-changers as "sea level rise." In truth, the limestone bedrock is collapsing both from the weight of infrastructure built on top, and the over-pumping of ground water from wells.
There are a number of environmental groups who are constantly pushing back, but the fact that they have had little success points to how bad the problem is, and how little can actually be done about it.
Yeah, we’ve been here since 1998 but my husband grew up in Kendall (Miami.) I’m in Seminole County and years ago residents voted to preserve a Rural Boundary on the Eastern side of the county - to keep what was happening in the rest of Florida from happening here. From that time forward, new homes could only be built on land that are 5 acres or larger. In recent years, a developer has been trying to breach that “wall”; the thinking - if one developer can get a waiver, then the next will be able to also. The first developer filed a federal lawsuit claiming the law unfairly affects minorities. He lost. But he keeps trying everything he can. He’s bought lots of acreage where he could.
But people have woken up and are fighting back. The county years ago placed the dump over a wonderful aquifer. They then tried to put a sewage waste treatment center in the rural area. The county had bought an old orange orchard. The people fought hard on that one and won!
To fight the developer(s), a group was formed to help fight. They are small but mighty. Say what you want about FB, but when our town’s FB group is notified about a developer filing anything, everyone rallies. It is awesome to see - liberals and conservatives United in a common cause.
If its anything like zoning where I live, the zoning board is all one family or friends of one family. They get to play "lord" of whatever village, town, city by controlling who gets to build what and where.
If you get on their good graces your odds of success are higher. Oftentimes lining their pockets with cash or favors goes a long way.
Sorry for not having a really good solution, just pointing out the problem.
Local elections are critical.
Most likely if they have to request rezoning, the county has already decided the existing zoning is a proper use for that land. In my state, that means it was determined in the county's five year plan for the future. Get yourselves a lawyer to argue against this and help the planning commission understand changing to a more intensive use will be challenged in court.
This wouldn't be in Leander, would it? Looking at possibly being in the same situation.
Nope.