Members of the firm were lead counsel in the establishment of a Rural Land Stewardship Area (RLSA) Program in Florida. This program served as a model for the statutory RLSA program authorized by Florida Statute 163.3248.
The Collier County Rural Land Stewardship Overlay District encompasses approximately 200,000 acres and provides an innovative incentive based program designed to protect important ecological resources, protect prime agricultural areas, and promote sustainable compact development forms.
The firm also represented the landowner and development entity who first utilized the RLSA program, which protected approximately 17,000 acres of important wetlands and wildlife habitat and gained land use entitlements for the Town of Ave Maria and Ave Maria University, which total some 5,027 acres. The firm was counsel in the establishment of the first 6 Stewardship Sending Areas.
