Question: Is there a way to stop a label control that is not visible from taking up space on a form?

Answer: 
server side:

```
label.Attributes["style"] = "display:none";

```

or

```
label.Visible = false;

```

or, client-side (css):

```
#label-id { display: none; }

```
Set it's visibility to hidden through CSS. Or set it through the code behind to false. From the code behind a false setting should cause it to not be rendered at all.

Optionally, replace the label with a literal control and only emit something to it when you need to.