BUD Petition filed

On behalf of the Group Two plaintiffs, we filed a petition on Thursday, November 29, 2007, requesting an administrative hearing on the Dept. of Community Affairs proposed final order approving Monroe County's proposed ordinance 35-2007, which would amend the Beneficial Use Determination (BUD) process by adding several years, and thousands of dollars, to the process (which the US Supreme Court has held we must go through before filing a taking suit), and by eliminating any administrative compensation remedy (not that the County has ever offered to pay fair market value, anyway). Until this process ends, the existing BUD ordinance will stay in effect. A copy of the petition will be posted later today on http://mattsonlaw.com/.

Condemnation Blight in the Florida Keys

Since 1986, Florida Keys landowners have watched government acquire the vacant property next door for 10 cents on the dollar. There are about 8,000 Keys landowners who haven't given away their property for next to nothing, but that number decreases every day. This phenomenon has a name. It's called Condemnation Blight. It happens when government decides to acquire property for preservation purposes, but doesn't appropriate sufficient funds to pay Fair Market Value for the property it wants to control.

If you are getting letters from the State's hired land thieves, don't make the mistake of assuming you have no choice other than accepting the State's low-ball offer. Just saying "no" is a good start. You don't have to sell at a discount if you don't want to.

But then don't make the mistake many have made before you -- hiring some out-of-the-Keys eminent domain lawyer. They don't understand the condemnation blight situation in the Keys -- and they don't want to.