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.