Ideas to help work around zoning restrictions?

[Tom Munro]

I have a situation where there is a large, old church for sale. It’s a 5000+ sq ft building and it’s zoned residential. Based on the city code, It’s possible to renovate this into a large duplex, but I’d like to more effectively use the space and somehow create more rental income. 

Doing anything larger than a duplex (triplex, 4 plex etc) is not an option based on the code.  

Does anyone have any ideas or experience on ways to work around something like this?  

Maybe a large SFR with individual suites that can be rented?