A “potential lawsuit” is now a pending lawsuit since Manatee County commissioners voted 6-1 on Sept. 2 to join nine other municipalities to challenge Senate Bill 180.
The bill, which prohibits local governments from passing “more restrictive and burdensome” regulations on development, has opened Manatee County up to litigation over commissioners’ efforts to reinstate larger wetland buffers, raise impact fees and stop development beyond the Future Development Area Boundary.
Jamie Cole, a partner at the Fort Lauderdale law firm of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman, is filing the lawsuit on the basis that SB 180 is unconstitutional because it imposes a blanket prohibition on the exercise of home rule authority over land use and zoning matters…