Case Name: FLORIDA ROCK PROPERTIES, et al., Appellants, v. Timothy KEYSER, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1998-04-03
Citations: 709 So. 2d 175
Docket Number: No. 96-3307
Parties: FLORIDA ROCK PROPERTIES, et al., Appellants, v. Timothy KEYSER, Appellee.
Judges: DAUKSCH, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 709
Pages: 175–179

Head Matter:
FLORIDA ROCK PROPERTIES, et al., Appellants, v. Timothy KEYSER, Appellee.
No. 96-3307.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
April 3, 1998.
John A. DeVault, III, and Jane A. Lester, of Bedell, Dittmar, DeVault, Pillans & Coxe, P.A., Jacksonville, and Edward E. Hedstrom, P.A., Palatka, for Appellants.
Michael W. Woodward, of Keyser & Woodward, P.A., Interlachen, for Appellee.

Opinion:
THOMPSON, Judge.
Florida Rock Properties, Inc, and Florida Rock Industries, Inc. (collectively "Florida Rock") appeal from a declaratory final judgment which quashed the decision of the Putnam County Commission ("the Board") to rezone a 509-acre parcel of Florida Rock's land from agriculture to mining. Although several issues are raised, one is dispositive: Timothy Keyser, who filed the lawsuit seeking the declaratory judgment, is not an aggrieved party pursuant to section 163.3215, Florida Statutes. Therefore, he had no standing to appeal the decision of the Board to the circuit court.
Florida Rock owns approximately 6,700 acres of land in Putnam County and mines approximately 1,800 acres. The remaining land is zoned and currently used for agriculture. Florida Rock sought to rezone an additional two parcels, 509 acres, from agriculture to mining. The Board approved the rezoning without requiring a 25 percent set-aside to preserve native vegetation as mandated by the county's comprehensive plan.
In his verified complaint for declaratory relief to quash the Board's decision, Keyser alleged that he was an "aggrieved or adversely affected person" as defined in section 163.3215, Florida Statutes. He alleged the following facts to establish his standing: (1) he owns land in Putnam County approximately 10 miles from Florida Rock's 509-acre site; (2) he operates a law business in Putnam County and occasionally represents conservationists; (3) he has maintained a lifelong interest in wildlife and environmental protection matters as part of his civic duties; (4) the failure to require the 25 percent set-aside to protect native vegetation would affect his quality of life. The court found that Keyser had standing because his "exceptional personal and professional interests, efforts, and activities in conservation, wildlife and environmental protection matters were proven" and would be adversely affected by the Board's decision "to a greater degree than . other members of the community."
Section 163.3215, Florida Statutes, (1995) reads:
163.3215 Standing to enforce local comprehensive plans through development orders.—
(1) Any aggrieved or adversely affected party may maintain an action for injunctive or other relief against any local government to prevent such local government from taking any action on a development order, as defined in s. 163.3164, which materially alters the use or density or intensi ty of use on a particular piece of property that is not consistent with the comprehensive plan adopted under this part.
(2) "Aggrieved or adversely affected party" means any person or local government which will suffer an adverse effect to an interest protected or furthered by the local government comprehensive plan, including interests related to health and safety, police and fire protection service systems, densities or intensities of development, transportation facilities, health care facilities, equipment or services, or environmental or natural resources. The alleged adverse interest may be shared in common with other members of the community at large, but shall exceed in degree the general interest in community good shared by all persons. (Emphasis added.)
Therefore, Keyser's standing to challenge the Board's zoning decision depends on (1) whether the personal and professional interests he alleged are "protected or furthered by" Putnam County's comprehensive plan; if so, (2) whether those interests are greater than the general interest in community well being; and (3) whether the interests are or will be adversely affected by the challenged zoning decision.
First, property ownership alone is insufficient to show a person is one "who will suffer an adverse effect to an interest protected or furthered by" the plan. See Parker v. Leon County, 627 So.2d 476 (Fla.1993). Thus, the fact that Keyser owns land in Putnam is insufficient to establish standing. He does not live adjacent to Florida Rock's property. He does not claim that he will be adversely impacted by noise, increased traffic or noxious fumes from Florida Rock's property. He merely alleges ownership of land. There is no showing that Keyser will suffer an adverse effect. See White v. Metropolitan Dade County, 563 So.2d 117 (Fla. 3d DCA 1990) (holding that citizens of Dade County had no standing to challenge the construction of tennis courts on land which had a deed restriction to keep the land for a park in perpetuity or the land would revert to the owner). Had Keyser lived adjacent to the property, and had he been able to show a specific impact the zoning change would have upon him or his property, he would have standing. Southwest Ranches Homeowners Ass'n, Inc. v. Broward County, 502 So.2d 931 (Fla. 4th DCA), rev. denied, 511 So.2d 999 (Fla.1987).
Second, the fact that Keyser owns a business in the county does not confer standing upon him. He generally argues that the inability to counsel clients effectively in land use matters will be created because the Board issued the order. We find nothing unique about Keyser's inability to counsel his clients that would make him an aggrieved party. Each time a legislative body changes a statute or ordinance, a lawyer is in doubt as to the advice to give his client. That is the nature of a lawyer's practice. Moreover, professional interests are not among the interests the comprehensive plan protects. See § 163.3215(2), Fla. Stat. (1995).
Keyser's strongest but most problematic argument is that the zoning decision of the Board would adversely affect his quality of life by its negative impact upon wildlife populations and habitats in Putnam County. In Sierra Club v. Morton, 405 U.S. 727, 92 S.Ct. 1361, 31 L.Ed.2d 636 (1972), the United States Supreme Court held that judicial review must "be sought in the hands of those who have a direct stake in the outcome." Section 163.3215 does not specify or explain the degree to which the protected interest must be affected, but, case law is helpful. In Southwest Ranches Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., supra, the court held that property owners adjacent to a proposed development would have standing and a group of concerned citizens with a general interest would not. 502 So.2d at 934. Keyser never demonstrated any specific injury, only that the county would not be as bucolic as it once was. Key-ser is a citizen with an interest in the environment and nothing more. Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the circuit court and remand for disposition consistent with this opinion.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
DAUKSCH, J., concurs.
W. SHARP, J., dissents with opinion.
. Policy E.l.3.6 of the county's comprehensive plan requires the 25 percent set-aside on all new development on sites of 50 acres or more. The policy reads:
The County shall protect environmentally sensitive areas and native vegetative communities as follows:
A. The County shall require new development, as defined in Section 380.04, FS, on sites of 50 acres or more to preserve a minimum of 25 percent of the existing native vegetation on the site....