You have purchased a property that you want to use for your new business. Everything appears to be going smoothly, and the property is ideal for the company you are looking to start.
But then you run into some complications. You believed that the property was in the correct zone for your business, but it turns out that it is not actually in a commercial zone at all. Perhaps it is in a residential or an industrial zone. Do you need to work with the local government to see if it can change the zone so that you can still carry out your commercial operation at that location?
You can seek a variance
The government is not going to change its zoning just for one business. This does not mean that zones never shift or change, but there is a specific process and reasoning behind such changes. Local authorities will not rezone a residential area as commercial just to meet one business owner’s specific needs.
However, you can move forward with requesting a variance. Rather than changing the zone itself, a variance gives you the authority to break the existing zoning regulations. This does not affect any of the other properties within that zone. They are still bound by the original restrictions. But you may be approved to run a commercial operation in a residential zone, for example, if a variance is granted.
It is important to know exactly what steps to take, what documentation you need and how the process works. Given all that is at stake, you’ll want to carefully look into all of your legal options before committing to a plan of action.