In Hernando County, there is land that is currently zoned in such a way that it is unbuildable. The land must be rezoned before you can even file a building permit.
Land zoned Planned Development Project (PDP) may have a master plan that is expired. Typically master plans are only valid for one year and unless substantial completion of the master plan is done the end of the year the master plan expires. At that point the land lapses into zoning no mans land.
PDP zoned land is usually a large tract of land, however there are parcels that are just a few acres. If you want to split land into a few homes you may need go the PDP route.
In other counties, when the PDP zoning expires the land reverts to the previous zoning. This prevents the land from falling into this zoning no mans land.
The PDP zoning with an expired master plan could step up an untenable situations where someone buys a piece of land and is unable to rezone it. The neighbors may object to zoning changes and conceivable the zoning change could be denied. At that point the person would own a piece of land that they would not be allowed to build upon. They could refile for the PDP, but the master plan may need to be updated to meet new requirements.
Even if the rezoning is approved, rezoning is not quick process, it takes at least three months. It is not cheap. It costs at least $1000 and it can be many times more depending on the size of the land and the final zoning desired.
The property appraiser and tax collector websites do not provide any notification if the PDP zoning has expired. The determining if the PDP zoning is expired is deemed to difficult. This is because it is possible to file for extension for the PDP zoning. The county is unable to determine if the land is an expired PDP, but land purchasers are expected to know whether or not the land will require rezoning.
The county needs to develop a way to prevent land from falling into this unbuildable zoning situation. If they cannot accomplish that they need to at least provide notification that the land is currently unbuildable.