Firm attorney E. Owen McCuller Jr. recently obtained a favorable ruling from the St. Johns County Value Adjustment Board granting a religious use exemption from property taxes for a church client following an appeal from the Property Appraiser’s earlier denial of the exemption.
The Appraiser had taken the position that permitting and engineering activity on the vacant parcel by the church during the previous year and an earlier athletic/classroom schematic building plan, both failed to demonstrate that “affirmative steps” had been taken to prepare the property for religious use.
The VAB was persuaded that the building plan showing the multi-purpose building with the potential for use as a house of worship, though not prepared in the current year, represented necessary “affirmative steps” toward the use of the property for religious purposes and granted the exemption.
McCuller’s practice specializes in land use, zoning, environmental permitting and enforcement, landfills and utility matters. Contact McCuller for any assistance regarding land use/zoning and regulatory matters.
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