single family vs multi family zoning

[David Leberth]

I was wondering if anyone had any light to shine on the issue of zoning. I am currently "house hacking" as they call it. I bought a house zoned as a duplex but the previous owner converted it to a single family house, they took out the kitchen from upstairs. I now have a close friend that lives upstairs and I live in the bottom portion. You could consider it a roommate situation. I currently get two water bills and was looking to cut it down to one. The water authority told me id have to change the zoning on the property in order to eliminate one of the water meters. I want to keep the option of renting the whole house out as two apartments when I'm ready to move out. Would anyone know if there is any negative consequences of changing the zoning to a single family home and switching to one water meter? Would I have to keep it as multifamily in order to rent it out?