Gloria Velazquez is a shareholder at Nason Yeager. Ms. Velazquez has a wide range of experience as a land-use and zoning attorney and is a member of the firm’s Government, Environmental and Land Use Team. She focuses her practice in the areas of land acquisition, due diligence, land use and zoning, permitting and government affairs matters.
Ms. Velazquez represents real estate developers, property owners, and private companies before local government agencies to obtain land use plan amendments, rezoning, site plan approvals, platting, variances, and special exceptions. She also handles building permit issues, and code enforcement hearings. Her initial work experience in local government and her in-house development experience with a nationally recognized homebuilder gives her a unique perspective to guide her clients successfully through the entire development process, from conceptual planning and strategy, contract negotiation, real estate due diligence, negotiating and drafting agreements and covenants, entitlements, building permits, and certificates of occupancy. Ms. Velazquez has significant experience with high profile and complex development projects where she routinely engages community stakeholders and manages tasks with architects, traffic engineers, surveyors and other project consultants.
Her major representative projects include residential urban high-rises, residential large-scale suburban communities, mixed-use developments, retail, commercial, institutional, utility, outdoor advertising and rock mining activities. She is well-versed in handling matters involving developments with wetland issues, utility plants, landfills and resource recovery facilities.
Ms. Velazquez has appeared before numerous local government bodies including Miami-Dade County’s Environmental Quality Control Board (EQCB) and other regulatory boards. She served as the Government Affairs Director for the Builders Association of South Florida during the writing of the Florida Building Code in the late 90’s, which was as a result of the devastating destruction of Hurricane Andrew. To further complement her practice, Ms. Velazquez was twice appointed by the Governor to the Florida Board of Professional Engineers (FBPE) serving for 8 years.
As part of her government practice, Ms. Velazquez has advised clients during the government procurement process, including due diligence, submittal, and negotiations in Miami-Dade County. Ms. Velazquez has drafted numerous code amendments in various municipal jurisdictions and has extensive knowledge of the Community Development District (CDD) process.
With the perspective of a lifetime resident of Miami-Dade County, Ms. Velazquez has successfully guided clients through all phases of the South Florida development process.
Admissions
- Florida, 1997
- U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Education
- St. Thomas University School of Law, J.D.
- Florida International University, B.S.