Desire to Use Property for a Permitted Use not Valid Reason to Deny Rezoning - Palmer Trinity Private School, Inc. v. Village of Palmetto Bay, 31 So.3d 260 (Fla. 3d DA 2010)

This one is required reading.  In this “reverse spot zoning” decision, the Third DCA held that the Village could not deny a rezoning to a residential district that was consistent with the zoning of the surrounding lands, on the grounds that one of the permitted uses in the new district was a school use that the City knew the owner would request and that the neighbors objected to.  The opinion cites some of the more recent “reverse spot zoning” opinions in the Third DCA, but also the following two key and undercited opinions regarding the valid and proper use of zoning:  Porpoise Point P’ship v. St. Johns County, 470 So.2d 850 (Fla. 5^th DCA 1985) and Debes v. City of Key West, 690 So.3d 700 (Fla. 3d DCA 1997).