First Time Attempting to Re-zone Land - Advice Needed

[Keaton Sheffert]

Hello BiggerPockets Users,

I am looking for advice on how to best convince my local zoning commission to accept our proposal for a rezoning from residential to commercial (for apartments).

Background: My business partner and I are hoping to begin our first development in 2025 in our small town in Southern MI. We have located a good parcel of land at a fair price, only issue is it's currently zoned for residential and we are planning to develop a small, 8-unit apartment on it. Given the nature of small towns, we have personal relationships with multiple members of the board which we believe positions us well for success but of course there is still uncertainty. To help our case, I am thinking about putting together a report of some type that would help for why this development should be accepted. 

In the report I plan on having a executive summary which outlines what the project is and how it will help the community. Curious some data points / arguments / etc. other BP users have used in the past to argue how and why a project would benefit the community. What exactly would make a city board approve non-affordable (i.e. not Section 8)  apartments? How might a city board view a project such as this and what might be some of the bigger questions they would ask of us?

Apologize if these questions are vague, I am quite new to this.

Happy to provide some of the data I have found thus far (though data online is scarce given the size of the town).

Thanks!

P.s. Location says Ann Arbor but we are in a smaller town west of there.

[Stuart Udis]

@Keaton Sheffert Zoning changes can be a valuable tool in real estate. Every municipality has different zoning variance procedures. As a general rule of thumb most municipalities expect for the applicant to demonstrate hardship. Why can't you build residential housing on this parcel? Is it on a busy commercial street or surrounded by other non residential uses? Does the parcel have unique and challenging characteristics? Common examples include difficult grading, or an irregular lot orientation. 

Secondarily how will the multi-family concept impact the most immediate and impacted neighbors? This is important because these are generally the property owners with standing to file an appeal if they are not satisfied with the plans which can become a drawn out and expensive process.  Therefore best to communicate with the immediate neighbors early in the process. Sometimes minor tweaks to the design can garner their support which is far better than having an adversary. If you can provide additional benefits to the community, particularly those most greatly impacted that's great but that alone usually isn't sufficient in most municipalities. As others noted, most municipalities issue future zoning maps which indicate the direction the local planning commission or equivalent wants to take their zoning and if your plans are consistent, that's generally a good indication as well. 

To provide a practical example, I acquired a 60,000 SF assemblage that contained an autobody garage, nearly an acre of surface parking and a 4 unit building in Philadelphia. The base zoning required 25 feet of frontage and a lot area of 2,250 SF per house. Despite being nearly 60,000 SF of land, strict adherence to the zoning code would only allow 7 homes because the parcels lacked street frontage despite being very deep. The hardship in my case stemmed from the fact the parcel size required a storm water management system that would cost the same to implement if I built 7 homes or 30. There were challenging grading issues and limited access from the street to bring in utilities. There was also a failing retaining wall in the rear of the property that completely blocked natural light form a handful of houses, and was technically on the property line and a shared responsibility. I ultimately obtained a variance to build 12 townhomes and 18 condos reliant on my hardship case and by agreeing to take responsibility for replacing the retaining wall in a re-designed terrace approach that stepped the wall back from the most immediate neighbors which was a rounding error once applied to the overall project budget. I received my desired density and $1.3M in imputed equity that recently allowed me to finance the construction at 87% LTC through a bank. Meanwhile the  neighbors quality of life will improve once the new wall is constructed 2025 Q1 and the denser use is consistent with the Philadelphia planning commission's 2035 plan. All stakeholders were satisfied and no appeals were filed.