The solution that I thought of is to have a good friend of mine who is interested investing with me be the one who gets pre-approved for the hard money loan but I don't know if 1) will that work and 2) how I could structure/arrange that so that we can move forward with him as my financial partner?

I've had a tough time finder other lenders who are local--most appear to be local at first glance but then turn out to be more of a scam type site --pay to apply, no guarantees of approval, etc.

I think the way to go here is to buy it contingent upon you being able to get it re-approved as a 4 unit building.

It is not particularly important when differentiating between foreclosures, though your agent will be able to tell you if its a VA foreclosure and the contracts are different.I would recommend contacting a lender to get an idea of what you could be approved for. 

I am now awaiting approval from the bank on the price.

"taking the mortgage over in my name" would be an Assumption, and unlikely for the existing lender to approve. 

Look at your approved budget to see what other expenses are coming up that have not been paid.   

Pending zoning approval this lot will be sold and I will be able to put some cash into my pocket.Thanks for reading my deal!  

You need to know what your end game is, what the approval process is, how long it will take, and what it will cost.4) Is the zoning conditional?

We can't tell you if your product or idea will, or what process you would need to go through for approvals if we have  no idea what the product is.