All Forum Posts by: Keaton Sheffert

@Stuart Udis Very helpful Stuart! Great anecdote to include - I have messaged you on the side.

@Brandon Weis Sounds good - this has been very helpful. 

Fortunately, our parcel only has 1 neighbor, so less work from a quantity perspective on avoid dissent. However, for all we know, this one neighbor could give us high hell - we will ensure we speak to him before. 

In our town, the need for housing is well known, I was able to find some data but I think the general knowledge of it might be enough.

Glad to hear about the success of your re-zoning on the triplex. Did you end up actually living there? or was it more of a "I COULD live here if need be" but the issues was ultimately dropped? 

@Alecia Loveless Thank you for the advice!

I imagine it really is more cut and dry than i think. Our small town might be a bit more personable. My business partner had dinner with a friend on the Planning Commission just last night. We own a complete eye sore in the middle of the CBD and he said if we can fix it up and make it glitzy and nice it would certainly help our case. We've flipped quite a few houses so should be easy but funny to see the Quid pro quo nature of it haha

@Henry Clark Thanks Henry! I took your suggestion and spent the night checking through the cities Master Plan. Based on their goals and future zoning map it looks like we may be well positioned. I need to do some more diligence as it relates to point #4 and #5 

Thank you very much for this response Brandon! This is very helpful.

In regards to getting neighbors on board, would you go so far as getting their signature? or how exactly do you get them to vouch for you if they are in favor of the project?

In our market, there isn't much data outside of the census (I've checked Costar, CBRE, etc) do you know of any other sources i could use to back-up that the market is in need of housing? This is the general conscious and well known so might not need hard data.

Finally, when you say useless questions to prepare for, what are some of the worst you have heard? would be interesting to hear how "bottom-of-the-barrel" these questions can get lol

(I can also hop on the phone sometime and chat throw if you prefer and are open to that)

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.