Art Yatsko, a North Port retiree, says a lot he bought about two decades ago to one day build his dream retirement home can no longer be used for that purpose.
He filed suit after the city changed the zoning on the parcel, allowing some commercial uses while prohibiting the single-family house he had planned to build.
What happened?
According to WINK News, Yatsko went to federal court after North Port told him he could not build a home on property he purchased roughly 20 years ago.
The issue stems from 2024 revisions to North Port's Unified Land Development Code, which reclassified his long-single-family lot into a commercial zoning category even though the rest of the street consists of single-family homes. City officials said the broader zoning overhaul was intended to encourage more commercial development throughout the area.
"The city has taken away the one use that I had for the lot for all these years, and it's just unconscionable that this could happen," Yatsko said.
Representing Yatsko, Institute for Justice attorney Katrin Marquez said the city's position violates the Constitution.
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"According to North Port, nightclubs, breweries and shooting ranges are all welcome in this quiet community, but his home is not. That's unconstitutional," Marquez said.
Why does it matter?
In an email cited by WINK News, city leaders pointed to flooding problems in the Lady Slipper Avenue neighborhood and said its 1960s platting did not adequately account for stormwater runoff.
While existing single-family homes in the neighborhood can remain occupied, Yatsko says he's no longer allowed to build the home he planned on his vacant lot, as it's now zoned commercial.
What's being done?
Through the lawsuit, Yatsko and the Institute for Justice want a federal court to step in, arguing the rezoning exceeded the city's authority.
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Marquez said, "A city can fantasize about a downtown, and it can even loosen restrictions to make it more likely that that develops, but what it can't do is what North Port has done here, and stomp on a property owner's dream, a modest home to make that happen."
While declining to discuss the case itself, North Port has stood by the zoning change. A spokesperson said the change "actually expanded property rights in the area by allowing for greater commercial uses on those properties."
For now, the dispute will be resolved in federal court, leaving Yatsko unable to build the home he had planned.
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