Land Use Law in Florida.

• Author: Grosso, Richard

Land Use Law in Florida

By Thomas Hawkins

Land use law has a tremendous impact on how every person in the United States lives. City planning and local development decisions impact climate and sea level-rise mitigation and resilience, environmental conservation, economic development, social stability, taxes, and whether we spend our mornings and evenings stuck in traffic.

Thomas Hawkins' Land Use Law in Florida textbook is both an understandable text for land use or urban planner faculty and students and a comprehensive, detailed resource for practicing lawyers, planners, and elected officials. Hawkins, the former policy and planning director for 1000 Friends of Florida and currently a member of the faculty in the University of Florida's Department of Urban and Regional Planning, brings his experience as a lawyer, certified planner, expert witness, local elected official, and educator to this excellent text.

The practice of land use law varies from state to state, but many aspects of land use law--such as limits derived from the U.S. Constitution and common law principles like spot zoning and variances--are uniform across the country.

Available through routledge.com, Land Use Law in Florida explains land use law rules and practices common throughout the country, but provides an in-depth analysis of Florida laws and judicial decisions as examples. It covers the broad spectrum of land use law including comprehensive plans, land development regulations, development orders, public facility planning and finance, environmental and community issues, property rights, and other constitutional issues. Hawkins' work explains the theories and procedural nuts and bolts of common law and statutory administrative and judicial challenges to land use and development decisions. Its explanations and examples are...