by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
The purpose of the Environmental and Land Use Section of the Jacksonville Bar Association is to promote an understanding of the legal issues relating to land use and environmental law.
“Land use law includes zoning issues such as variances and exceptions, compliance with growth management and any other topic dealing with the governmental regulation of land uses,” said Lynda Aycock, chair of the Environmental and Land Use Section. “Environmental law includes issues relating to contamination of land as well as issues relating to development of land and protection of the environment.”
Normally, the group has a meeting on land use law and one on environmental law and hosts a seminar during their year.
This year’s section hasn’t met yet since the group organized in September, but is in the process of scheduling a meeting.
Sometimes they meet once a year, sometimes four times. Aycock said it depends on what is going on and what they need to discuss.
“We work very closely with the government, so any new law or change in government affects what we do, so we tend to meet when there is a change in the law or government personnel.”
Aycock said the section is relatively small with about 20 members, compared to the other sections of the bar.
“The group is comprised of about two-third lawyers who practice land use and one-third lawyers who practice environmental law,” she said. “We try to have a speaker in or just get together to discuss recent changes in the law. It’s not a huge area of practice and some lawyers also practice other types of law such as real estate. You can’t sell real estate without understanding land use.”
When they do meet, typically they will have a brown bag lunch with a speaker or just a discussion.
“It’s our way of updating ourselves and keeping up with new regulations and changes in policy,” said Aycock.
Aycock said they are also encouraged to have a seminar to let the rest of the bar know what is going on in the environmental and land use section.
Mac McCuller is the vice chair.
“I practice land use law and Mac is more on environmental, so when we have a meeting, it will be lead by who is best suited to talk about that subject,” said Aycock.