Spot Zoning East Tawas Michigan

[Annette Weiss]

I have a triplex that is under contract to be sold, and through current the appraisal process, it was discovered that the property is zoned "single family", however, we had purchased it as a multifamily 3 years ago and it was never mentioned.  Since zoning is now aware, they said we are operating "illegally" since there are no records of permits pulled years ago for the conversion of a single family to multi-family.  The area was actually zoned multi-family years ago.  A previous owner had converted it, pulled no permits, and now we are dealing with working with the City, who also does not know the legalities here.  We asked for a spot variance, with a special zoning meeting, and they are saying they cannot do a spot variance.  Is this simply bc they have no record from previous years with approvals through permits?  I was made aware that spot variances are legal in this same city.  The city has an "attorney" researching to see what they can do, since they have discovered that 8 homes are multi-family homes with no records of permits for single to multi conversions during the time that they were zoned multi-family.  Any wisdom on this is very appreciated!