Month: July 2019

From a relevant Supreme Court ruling: “The unconstitutional conditions doctrine vindicates the Constitution’s enumerated rights by preventing the government from coercing people into giving them up.” The approval of the expansion of the Mayflower retirement community by our city commission on July 22, 2019 was not without drama. The city’s Transportation Advisory Board unanimously supported and on Monday three members of the commission initially voted to require two easements from the Mayflower in exchange for approval of an expansion plan modified from a 2018 preliminary approval. These easements were in contemplation of the city eventually creating pedestrian/bicycle trails along sections…

Celebrate freedom by planting a tree on your residential property! The Florida State Legislature passed and the Governor signed a bill effective July 1, 2019 requiring that: (1) A local government may not require a notice, application, approval, permit, fee, or mitigation for the pruning, trimming, or removal of a tree on residential property if the property owner obtains documentation from an arborist certified by the International Society of Arboriculture or a Florida licensed landscape architect that the tree presents a danger to persons or property. (2) A local government may not require a property owner to replant a tree…