Property owners supposedly in the path of any public construction projects may be asked by the local government to make way for the development. The government can do this because of the eminent domain laws. In many cases, the proceedings provide compensation to the displaced resident. However, issues arise when the question of whether the compensation offered was adequate. An eminent domain attorney like Mark Bentley with Mark Bentley, P.A., can get down to the bottom of ...

The City of Tampa, in an effort to provide a more logical and understandable regulatory framework, has proposed its first Land Development Code. Section 163.3201, Florida Statutes, of the state of Florida’s “Community Planning Act” requires that a local government adopt land development regulations or consolidate regulations into a “land development code” in order to implement and enforce their comprehensive plans. The City’s land development regulations were located in numerous unrelated code sections and rules. This lack of integration made ...

The City of Tampa is proposing to replace its City-wide transportation impact fee created in 1986 that imposed six (6) districts, to a multi-modal fee whose funds are not restricted to transportation improvements. Unlike the transportation impact fee, these multi-modal funds could be used for bicycle, pedestrian and transit capital improvements in addition to non-local roadway capital improvements.

The City has decided at this point, that the new fee will remain the same as the current transportation impact fee, which has ...

On June 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. The Inclusive Communities Project Inc. (ICP), that lawsuits based on complaints that a law or policy has a disparate impact on housing opportunities resulting in discrimination of minorities, whether or not intentional, are lawful under the FHA, and may create liability for the offender.

In ICP, federal low income tax credits were distributed to the state of Texas, who in ...

Having a house and a livelihood are two good things nobody should do without. When the state government, however, has other plans for the land your house is built on, posing a threat to your long-term abode, things could get a bit messy. With the government waving eminent domain as its privilege, residents who are at risk of being evicted require ample legal representation to present their case. Evan Axelbank of FOX13 in Tampa Bay said as much ...