In 2001 my wife and I purchased an 11 acre tract and in 2006 we acquired a 0.47 acre tract (leftover from a split many years ago) next to it. At that time there was no zoning in our county. I never really thought about combining them until we appealed our tax valuation last year. I told them I wished to combine them but was denied because the two tracts are zoned differently. Our original tract is zoned Agriculture but the small tract was zoned R-1. No one owns up to assigning the R-1 classification. The county manager looked into it and told me that it couldn’t have been put in Ag because Ag has a minimum 10 acre requirement. I asked how it was classified R-1 when R-1 has a minimum of 1.5 acres. Also, the nearest Residential property is over a mile away. Then I was told to apply for a rezone. So, I’m supposed to pay $400 to apply for a rezone that I may not get, because the county won’t admit they were wrong. The recent doctrine of merger thread has the gears turning now. Opinions?
Me. "What's the difference?"
T.C. Carroll "It's the difference between right and wrong!"
I'm guessing the residential zone is taxed higher than agricultural? If so then it sounds like they were basically intentionally scamming you.
I've been in a fighting mood lately (see my obnoxious invasion of privacy thread 😏) so I'd probably fight with them on this too. Tell them if they do the rezone for free you won't sue them for abusing the ordinance.
The main reason that I want to combine the two properties is combined I have enough acreage to put my property in conservation use and save a lot on taxes. I figure they just don't like giving discounts.
Me. "What's the difference?"
T.C. Carroll "It's the difference between right and wrong!"
So, you are not allowed to have a zoning boundary run through a parcel of land? It has to be contiguous with a parcel boundary?
Don't know about the statutes of the OP, but zoning doesn't determine tax rates. Use does. A residential zoned parcel can be taxed ag if it's creating a certain income of agricultural production. An agricultural zoned parcel can be taxed as residential if it doesn't produce any ag income. So it's a mixed bag. One parcel next to my office is zoned business but taxed as agricultural since it's a hay meadow. That changed with a sale and a new subdivision. Splitting the parcel with different zoning won't change the taxes.
That is what I was told. I've seen it happen in other counties in the same state.
Me. "What's the difference?"
T.C. Carroll "It's the difference between right and wrong!"
Conservation use is where the tax savings is. I cannot put my property into conservation use unless it is a certain acreage. I have the required acreage but not in one tract. They will not let me combine it unless they are both zoned the same. Some County employee just arbitrarily put a zoning classification of residential on a piece of property that you can't build on.
Me. "What's the difference?"
T.C. Carroll "It's the difference between right and wrong!"
So, I’m supposed to pay $400 to apply for a rezone that I may not get, because the county won’t admit they were wrong. The recent doctrine of merger thread has the gears turning now. Opinions?
Yes. This is a sneaky and unethical manner by which local governments extort what should be unnecessary fees from constituents. If they want to be really diabolical, they will have a General Plan overlay that conflicts with the zoning so that you would also need to apply for a General Plan Amendment first to have it be consistent with the zoning for whichever (or both) parcel on top of the rezone. Each of those processes may also come with conditions by which the county demands improvements, or in lieu, more $$$ deposited into some slush fund with a name suggesting that the funds will be used on an infrastructure improvement project benefitting your local community but in reality will be spent on some highly visible vote buying project across town or across the county or on some improvement that directly adds value to the properties of high ranking local government officials.