Absolutely get legal council.

(City council members are drawn to the siren argument from established residents that the character of their neighborhoods are being ruined by transients.)

I guess I am old school I want to go in and eye ball my CPA I want to have lunch with him every quarter and discuss business opps I am thinking about..I guess if you just have a few rentals and a W 2 job that's OK you can use turbo tax.. but if your in the business I find the council of my CPA invaluable ..

The January meeting has a speaker from the Lexington Fair Housing Council giving a presentation on Landlord Do's and Dont's.

I assume that would be public record.Maybe check with City Council meeting agenda/minutes since commercial projects of that magnitude are probably going to receive some sort of discretionary process review that has to be publicly disclosed.Or maybe approach the large construction firms that are active in that area?  

There are also eviction specialists in larger cities who can give good advice and support council for as little as $350.

Ironically some of the sales do need approved by the council, so I see what you mean by raising awareness.This info will be specifically for Tarrant County (Fort Worth) TX.   

It's possible to re-zone a property but it is an extended affair that could take at least 6 months, plan on 12 (figure several postponed city council hearings, hoops to jump through, etc. and you get the idea), and I would not count on that as part of the deal at all - that should be "gravy", not something you count on for the deal to work at all.The best thing I think you can do is ride by the property, maybe talk to neighbors in the area too, and see if you can figure out why it's zoned Light Industrial.

I attended the Denver Short Term Rental Advisory Committee on Tuesday, and they had some more information about how compliance with and enforcement of the new Denver Airbnb law is going.As background, the city council in June passed the new ordinance, which legalized certain short-term rentals but also prohibited anyone from using a second home or investment property to do STRs.

Malibu, CA joining the frey on STRs:A very typical response to STRs ( according to patch.com) is The Council is concerned that people would buy property in Malibu for the sole purpose of renting it out on services such as AirBnB.