Sell Your Vacant Land or Lot in Charlotte County for Cash

The Florida scrub-jay is a state and federally protected bird found only in Florida. In December 2014 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued Charlotte County a countywide Incidental Take Permit with a habitat conservation plan that runs for 30 years. Parcels covered by the plan are shown on the county’s GIS map: open the layers folder and turn on the Scrubjay Permit Boundary layer. The county says the boundary will not change until at least 2045.

To develop a lot in the plan area, the owner completes the county’s HCP application, pays a one-time fee set by tiers based on the parcel’s acreage as originally platted, and agrees to the conditions, including no vegetation clearing during nesting season, March 1 through June 30. Combining or splitting lots does not lower the fee, and once paid the fee stays with the parcel if it is sold. The plan is optional, but an owner who asks for an individual federal review instead cannot get development permits until the Fish and Wildlife Service issues a written release or permit. Fees are adjusted each year for inflation.

Charlotte County Utilities takes water and sewer availability requests one lot per form, using the address and short legal description from the property appraiser’s record. In areas approved for sewer expansion through a Municipal Service Benefit Unit, the county bills the assessment in yearly installments on the tax bill. Where there is no sewer, the septic application goes to the Florida Department of Health in Charlotte County.

Charlotte County is inside the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which requires an Environmental Resource Permit before construction that would affect wetlands, alter surface water flows or contribute to water pollution. One of the eight segments of Rotonda West, planned as Saint Andrews, was never established because of wetlands conservation efforts.