ZONING
Zoning is the legislative act of dividing a jurisdiction’s land into sections and regulating different land uses in each section in accordance with a zoning ordinance. Zoning ordinances detail whether specific geographic zones are acceptable for residential or commercial purposes. The ordinance may also regulate lot size, placement, density, and the height of structures.
Several devices allow governing boards to include flexibility in their zoning:
- Non-conforming use: Allows a pre-existing use to continue
- Variance: Allows the governing board to grant an exception
- Spot Zoning: Changing the zoning for a specific parcel of land, but not the surrounding parcels
- Illegal Contract Zoning/Legal Conditional Use Zoning: While a city may not change the zoning in exchange for a bilateral promise from a landowner, it may make a change if the landowner makes a unilateral promise.
- Incentive Zoning: The governing board offers landowners a way to buy out of regulations at a pre-set price.
McKinley Onua handles zoning matters and will help property owners apply for a deviation from the existing zoning ordinances. Our experience in real estate as well as navigating the Department of City Planning gives our clients an upper hand with the application process thereby greatly increasing chances of success.
