Florida property owner fights $120,000 county fee, challenges unconstitutional permit scheme in Charlotte County

Punta Gorda, FL; October 29, 2024: Today, Mike Colosi, a Charlotte County property owner, filed a federal lawsuit challenging unconstitutional government demands and seeking to end wrongful land and fee extortion. 

Mike recently relocated to Florida and purchased a five-acre lot to build a home. He plans to use only about one acre of the land for his home while preserving the rest for the land’s natural beauty. However, Colosi’s dream home is already mired in regulatory red tape. Federal and local requirements designed to protect the Florida scrub jay, a bird species native only to Florida, are blocking his plans. Under Charlotte County’s Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP), Colosi faces a development fee of nearly $120,000 simply due to the hypothetical chance that a scrub jay could one day nest on his land.

“Charlotte County’s fee scheme is a clear violation of property owners’ rights,” said Johanna Talcott, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “The Supreme Court has consistently held that development fees must have a demonstrated link to impacts of development, and that fees must be proportional. A fee scheme that more than doubles when the size of a property changes by a hundredth of an acre, as this fee scheme does, is clearly wrong. Further, these fees drive up the costs for Floridians trying to build much-needed housing.” 

The Supreme Court has ruled in Nollan v. California Coastal Commission (1987), Dolan v. City of Tigard (1994), and Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District (2013) that government demands tied to property use must be related and proportional to the project’s actual impact. Colosi’s case also challenges the federal government’s authority under the Endangered Species Act to regulate a bird found solely within Florida. 

Mike Colosi is represented free of charge by Pacific Legal Foundation. The case is Colosi v. Charlotte County.