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6 OK G ma 1/ i <br />TO: Board of County Commissioners <br />u <br />THRU: Charles P. Vitunac, County Attorney <br />FROM: Terrence P. O'Brien, Assistant County Attorney <br />DATE: July 6, 1994 <br />RE: INTERPRETATION OF ZONING LAWS <br />General Law <br />There are certain maxims which the courts universally apply to the <br />construction of zoning laws. Perhaps the first and the controlling <br />maxim is that • zoning ordinances which are in derogation of the <br />common law and operate to deprive an owner of an otherwise lawful <br />property use should be strictly construed in favor of the property <br />owner. This is so since the federal and state constitutions give <br />great protection to property rights. This rule leads to a very <br />narrow construction when a word or phrase used to describe a use <br />which is to be prohibited in a particular zoning district, and a <br />very liberal construction of a word or phrase used to describe a <br />use which is to be permitted. <br />A corollary to this rule of strict construction is that, in ambiguous <br />cases, a zoning ordinance will not be extended by implication <br />against the property owner. For example, if an ordinance were to <br />list permitted uses and prohibited uses and the proposed use was <br />not in either list, the courts would not allow the use to be <br />impliedly placed in the prohibited category if there was a <br />reasonable doubt concerning the meaning of the use. The courts <br />will by virtue of strict construction say that the proposed use <br />belongs in the permitted category. <br />Florida Law <br />The law in Florida is succinctly stated in Mandelstam v. City <br />Commission of the City of South Miami, 539 So . 2d 1139 (1988 ) <br />wherein the court stated in pertinent part as follows "'permitted <br />uses must be interpreted broadly, prohibited uses strictly, so that <br />doubts are resolved in a property owner's favor.... Zoning laws <br />are in derogation of the common law and, as a general rule, are <br />subject to strict construction in favor of the right of a property <br />owner to the unrestricted use of his property." <br />Florida law vis-a-vis County Staff interpretation <br />Mr. Keating, as Director of Community Development, has <br />interpreted the County Land Development Regulations to mean that <br />the word "Supermarket," which is not defined in the Code, is <br />subsumed in the term "Grocery Store," and is therefore a <br />permitted use in the CL District. It is the opinion of this office <br />based on the law stated above that this is a legally correct <br />conclusion. <br />23 <br />July 12, 1994 <br />