Re zoning

[Big Bri]

My Parish (county) just rezoned a tract of land i own form commercial to rural. I paid 200k for this land last year and now after their rezoning it's not worth but about 50k
This peice of property is 1.2 acres and is 135' off a major 4 lane hwy (conects baton rouge to new orleans). I was not given any notice, letter or a phone call about it. when i complained i was told that they held a public meeting about rezoning the entire parish and i should have attended. (only 87 people showed up for 13 different meatings.
my question to you is can they leagly do this and if they do, are there any steps i can take to recope my loss, kinda like eminent domain where they would pay you for you lost property?
thanks for any help

 

[smfcpacfp]

I am the chairman of our planning commission here in a township in Michigan. When we change our zoning ordinance (i.e., such as widescale rezoning) verses rezone one property, we are only required to notify residents by advertising in a local newspaper twice, post the proposed changes at the township hall for general inspection and then a public hearing is held and from there our recommendation goes to the township board ( the elected governing body) for their approval. I know this seems unfair, but the alternatives are quite expensive.

If we get a request to rezone just one properrty, the date of the meeting to discuss the change must be posted on the property (which would have limited notification benefit), it must be advertised in the paper, and the adjacent property owners would be notified by a registered letter return request. Of course, in that case only the owner can make a rezoning request.

At our last meeting we had a couple who came with a situation similar to yours and they were rather unhappy. They can apply to have it rezoned and might succeed. I agree, it seems a bit unfair, unless you constantly monitor what goes on in your zoning unit of government, these things might happen without your knowledge. The state mandates the procedures for rezoning and unless the zoning district didn't comply with the state procedures, you have little recourse except to apply to have it rezoned. There is something here called, "spot zoning" which means that you can't simply rezone one parcel for the benefit of the owner unless it is consistent with the surrounding area. That is something that your zoning entity will be thinking about when considering your request.

 

[bp fick]

Well, you are in Louisiana, and I say that as a former resident.

Yes, you, as the property owner, were to have been notified of the proposed zoning change, as were your adjoining neighbors. If, and you should verify this, if you were notified by mail, although where they would have mailed the notice is anyone's guess, then you were duly notified of the possible change. There had to be a tax payer mailing address attached to that parcel.

If, by chance, all that is required is public notice, via the official newspaper for posting by the parish, they may have fulfilled their duty that way.

Either way, I doubt this was done sneakily, even though it passed by your attention until the deed was done. Yes, they can re-zone and sometimes it results in a diamond and sometimes a stone. No, they don't have to pay you for your loss. I am very sorry for this unfortunate happenstance.

I am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, just a citizen.

edit: similar to above. We were typing at the same time.

 

[oldnslo]

Here in Illinois they are supposed to notify all property owners in writing along with all of the adjoining property owners.

Make sure your taxes are adjusted accordingly. Small consolation but at least hopefully a little salve on the wound.

Roy

 

[crusty 1]

Seems to be unfair to me I don,t take the local rag paper as its just the ussual who visited who type of thing.For what we pay in property tax seems to me that a letter addressed to your home should be required.But what do I know I,m just the dummy who worked and paid my way and gets nothing but grief from the idiots that make the rules.:droolave

 

[CurlyDave]

I would certainly consult my tax person about this being a deductible loss. Won't get you back where you were, but better than nothing.

 

[dcyrilc]

We had a simailr issue years back. Our 17 acres was rezoned as residentual. Raised our property taxes to nearly $9K/year. Keeping the taxes paid is killing us. As we are right now it's only worth about $400K. The city limits with their 5K sqft lots are 650ft from us and they keep looking to expand. If we can afford to hang on to it until that happens, we should be sitting on several million. Even so, I'm not sure I'll be able to pay the property taxes this fall. Really sucks as the property is paid for free and clear.

 

[crusty 1]

hi cyril, it may be a plot.The taxes get raised you can,t pay who gets the property? BINGO. Give that man his parting gifts for being such a good contestant.:laughing:it would be funny if it weren,t so true!I,ll be pullin for ya,Dave

 

[Big Bri]

Thanks for all the reply's. I do have a court hearing on wen. I'm going to meet with a lawyer on monday, i hope she has some answers for me.
i'll keep ya'll posted

 

[buckeyefarmer]

our county is also downzoning property, in order to control construction. Seems unfair to me, but that is your government looking out for you.

 

[smfcpacfp]

I would certainly consult my tax person about this being a deductible loss. Won't get you back where you were, but better than nothing.

Clearly the loss in value is not a tax deductible loss. He would actually have to sell the property to realize a tax loss, and only if the property would held as an investment, rather than for personal purposes.

 

[2manyrocks]

I guess your property is not currently in commercial use so that it would be grandfathered but they came in and changed your classification on you?

 

[schmism]

My Parish (county) just rezoned a tract of land i own form commercial to rural. I paid 200k for this land last year and now after their rezoning it's not worth but about 50k

Its worth whatever you can get a buyer to pay you for it. No reason you still cant sell it to walgreens for 200K. They just need to get it rezoned back to what it was before it was rural. Shouldnt be an issue as most districts are always looking for new sources of tax income.

 

[tallyho8]

If you aren't planning on selling the property anytime soon, it will be a bonus to you as it should lower your property taxes. If you were planning on selling it soon, get ready for round one of a long fight.

Many of the neighboring parishes, St Charles and St Tammany and others have just been rezoning large tracts of land and I have seen many articles in the paper about it.

As you probably know, in Louisiana, when they are rezoning large tracts they must advertise it in the legal newspaper. In most parishes around New Orleans it is the Times Picayune but in your parish this may be some small not often read newspaper and it will be a small classified in the back section under legal notices.

They tried to rezone a large tract by me and I helped get a group of neighbors together to form a civic association to fight it and we were able to prevent the rezoning. Your strength is in numbers. Getting it rezoned back to what it was will be an even harder fight especially if your neighbors are against doing it.

If there are no close neighbors to the property who would oppose it being rezoned commercial, you could probably easily get it spot-zoned if someone was ready to start a business on it.

The most important fact is finding out who pushed to get it rezoned and why because this is the person you will be up against in getting it rezoned back commercial. If they did it to get their taxes lowered on large tracts they own by getting them rezoned rural they may not mind you getting your one small piece rezoned commercial.

 

[Big Bri]

thanks for the replys guys,
I'm not selling the property, i bought it in 2004 with the idea that i was going to build an office ware house complex on it. when i bought it i had the land sub divided, i own the land that is on the 4 lane hwy, and the lot behind it.
I had it sub divided so that if i wanted to sell one building or the other i could.
(never know when you might need money) I built on the first lot (the one on the hwy) back in 2005, i'm now ready to build on this lot as i've found some renters and when i went to pull permits i was told about the rezone.
What i should say about this land is that this was a corner lot and on this side of the corner only the first lot is now zoned commercial, on the other side of the street (not the 4 lane but the side street) it is zoned commercial for 1740ft, and it has been subdivided into 6 lots all commercial.
Every where up and down the major hwy it is zoned commercial 600 ft min. on ether side of the hwy, except my lot which is only 135'off the hwy. I also found out that the man who owns the land on the other side of the side street with the 1740 commercial zone is the SIL of a Parish (county) Planer who is incharge of issuing building perments.

 

[tulenutn2o]

thanks for the replys guys,
I'm not selling the property, i bought it in 2004 with the idea that i was going to build an office ware house complex on it. when i bought it i had the land sub divided, i own the land that is on the 4 lane hwy, and the lot behind it.
I had it sub divided so that if i wanted to sell one building or the other i could.
(never know when you might need money) I built on the first lot (the one on the hwy) back in 2005, i'm now ready to build on this lot as i've found some renters and when i went to pull permits i was told about the rezone.
What i should say about this land is that this was a corner lot and on this side of the corner only the first lot is now zoned commercial, on the other side of the street (not the 4 lane but the side street) it is zoned commercial for 1740ft, and it has been subdivided into 6 lots all commercial.
Every where up and down the major hwy it is zoned commercial 600 ft min. on ether side of the hwy, except my lot which is only 135'off the hwy. I also found out that the man who owns the land on the other side of the side street with the 1740 commercial zone is the SIL of a Parish (county) Planer who is incharge of issuing building perments.

This is their way of getting more money from you in the future by requiring you to pay for it to be rezoned back to commercial. He who thinks our government is not corrupt is a fool. My .02.

 

[MJ's Design guide]

Appeal your taxes on this issue to the highest level
get some legal counsel
check notifications sent to you regarding change in zoning laws
go to board meetings
and prepare to be absolutely exhausted as the government does everything possible to make you go away
Unfortunately I have learned through fighting city hall for 7 months on a permitting/stormwater/public easement issue, that the government is set up to hold onto its purse strings, and do everything to make you go away. And you have been wronged, but doing anything might be another story. Get a lawyer to help.

 

[Big Bri]

Just an update, I had my rezoning hearing yesterday, I came well prepared, stated my case, showed my pic, graphs, and surveys. No one came to protest the rezone, and the only opposition i got was from the planing commission, and a few from the zoning board. In the end i won with a vote of 6 to 3.

I know have to go the the Council meeting and have the 11 member town council approve it, from what i understand they usually approve what ever the zoning board approves so it looks like i'm in the clear but i will still be going to make sure there in no objections.

What disturbed me about this meeting is that the the 3 that voted against it seemed to know a lot about it. They would look at the planing commission before they would speak, and the planing commission would whisper to the zoning board what to say. Just seemed a little under handed.

 

[JCB]

Congratulations Bri,

It's got to be a good feeling walking out of that meeting. Planning commission and zoning boards bring back memories of starting my business a couple years back. Even though it clearly seemed you got screwed at the onset, it still seems you got off fairly easy only having to attend one meeting. Having to attend several seems more the norm.

Joe

 

[Big Bri]

Congratulations Bri,

It's got to be a good feeling walking out of that meeting. Planning commission and zoning boards bring back memories of starting my business a couple years back. Even though it clearly seemed you got screwed at the onset, it still seems you got off fairly easy only having to attend one meeting. Having to attend several seems more the norm.

Joe

One of the Board members that voted against it asked if i was willing to wait till the next hearing (a month away) so that they could review the land layout more. I told them NO, Today was my hearing, and i Wanted an answer today.

i think they wanted to find more reasons to deny me or to change the minds of the members i had won over.
thanks for the support
Brian