Buying a lot in wetlands

[Ihor Kucheynyk]

Hello Everyone

I'm looking to buy a standard lot which is a buildable (as far as county says) has it's own address, is zoned single family.

The wetland on it is isolated and there are many houses around the lot, the neighborhood is established.

Seller has a permit from Florida environmental protection, allowing to build a SFR with a plan to keep part of wetland on the backyard. The permit also states I'm suppose also to get approval from US Army Corps of engineers, which I struggle to contact with.

Have anyone dealt with this situation? Any pitfalls buying this?

I would appreciate your comments

[Mason Moreland]

I would strongly recommend you get a professional opinion on this. I have been working in this area for my W2 for nearly a decade and have seen even individual homeowners fined thousands per day for violations. The Corps aren’t terribly forgiving. Florida’s state level regs are a whole different animal to deal with as well and I can’t claim to be an expert on those (I specialize in every other Gulf state and the Great Plains).

To make things worse, a judge in AZ just struck down the current interpretation the Army Corps was using to define what wetlands they had jurisdiction over. So now that is entirely in flux and will likely prevent the Corps from even making any jurisdictional determinations at all. Projects previously ruled on with the struck down rule may be put back into the queue for re-interpretation. This judge’s ruling could also be reversed. Essentially massive gridlock until it is resolved.

All that being said, today is not a great day to be dealing with wetlands permitting for anyone anywhere. If there’s anything I can do to assist you, let me know and I’m happy to help out.