Zoning Analysis Reports

[W3 Planning and Research]

Lets talk about zoning analysis reports for a bit. These are the least known and quite frankly one of the biggest benefits in planning in your community.

These are comprehensive reviews of applicable zoning laws, building permits, C of O's, and code violations to determine if a property is still compliant with local regulations or if it has earned a legal non-conforming status. These are used heavily in due diligence for commercial properties such as multi-family, industrial, medical facilities and much more. Personally, my company and I have done over 100 of them in the past year alone all across the country, from small towns to the biggest jurisdiction in the country. Some of these reports are over a few hundred pages long because of the amount of research and documentation that we put together.

Who needs them? These are used by lenders to back loans, developers doing due diligence on new projects, title companies to assist with title insurance requirements. From a banking poinit of view, these are done on a new construction, refinance or just a new purchase of a property. They provide assurances to the legal status of a property and to ensure that they new buyer (and by extension the banks and title companies) aren't buying a property with unknown conditions that could impact their use and enjoyment of the property into the future.

**Planners** While these are typically viewed as menial tasks in the planning offices to do some research, this is actually one of the most vital pieces of planning in your community. These reports keep the money flowing in and out of businesses by banks and encourage new development. They help owners refianance or sell their properties and move on to other projects. Filling out these requests bring millions of dollars instantly into your community. When I was a development services director, I prefered that senior staff handle these request for this exact reason. I wanted them to take them seriously, and provide the excellent customer service to encourage investment in the community. This is how we grow as a community and maintain vibrance and re-investment!

I'd be happy to answer questions if anyone has any on these. I have seen some amazing examples of best practices out there, and some extremely poor ones. If anyone needs a zoning analysis report, please let me know!

 

[Chris_Sows_32]

In my department there are lots of reports asked for and it sometimes becomes a bit hectic at times but my department usually handles it pretty well. This is very interesting to note thank you

 

[W3 Planning and Research]

No problem! I'll tell you, I am dealing with one right now, and I won't name the jurisdiction, and they publish 1 month turn around times, and they hold to that. They won't do it quicker, it is 1 month, period. They are costing their citizens in this case likely hundreds of thousands of dollars in delays in financing, not to mention possibly ending up with an unfavorable rate if the rate unlocks. Time really is critical, and while many planners view these as insignificant, the hard costs to the property owners or new investments in the community is quite large!

 

[Zak]

Lets talk about zoning analysis reports for a bit. These are the least known and quite frankly one of the biggest benefits in planning in your community.

These are comprehensive reviews of applicable zoning laws, building permits, C of O's, and code violations to determine if a property is still compliant with local regulations or if it has earned a legal non-conforming status. These are used heavily in due diligence for commercial properties such as multi-family, industrial, medical facilities and much more. Personally, my company and I have done over 100 of them in the past year alone all across the country, from small towns to the biggest jurisdiction in the country. Some of these reports are over a few hundred pages long because of the amount of research and documentation that we put together.

Who needs them? These are used by lenders to back loans, developers doing due diligence on new projects, title companies to assist with title insurance requirements. From a banking poinit of view, these are done on a new construction, refinance or just a new purchase of a property. They provide assurances to the legal status of a property and to ensure that they new buyer (and by extension the banks and title companies) aren't buying a property with unknown conditions that could impact their use and enjoyment of the property into the future.

**Planners** While these are typically viewed as menial tasks in the planning offices to do some research, this is actually one of the most vital pieces of planning in your community. These reports keep the money flowing in and out of businesses by banks and encourage new development. They help owners refianance or sell their properties and move on to other projects. Filling out these requests bring millions of dollars instantly into your community. When I was a development services director, I prefered that senior staff handle these request for this exact reason. I wanted them to take them seriously, and provide the excellent customer service to encourage investment in the community. This is how we grow as a community and maintain vibrance and re-investment!

I'd be happy to answer questions if anyone has any on these. I have seen some amazing examples of best practices out there, and some extremely poor ones. If anyone needs a zoning analysis report, please let me know!

I’d like to see an example of one of these reports. On first read, I thought you were referring to what I’d describe as a comprehensive zoning verification letter or report. However when you mentioned 2-300 page reports, I can’t imagine what analysis would be that robust for a single parcel. Additionally, do you charge a fee for these? Thanks.

 

[W3 Planning and Research]

I’d like to see an example of one of these reports. On first read, I thought you were referring to what I’d describe as a comprehensive zoning verification letter or report. However when you mentioned 2-300 page reports, I can’t imagine what analysis would be that robust for a single parcel. Additionally, do you charge a fee for these? Thanks.

Our reports are proprietary, so I can't share. But I can tell you that they provide a factual and legal basis for decision making. Outside of the analysis, it includes all of the legal conditions in place at the time of the report such as applicable ordinance sections, survey's, all permits, code violations, marketing materials, C of O's as well as the simple zoning verification letters from the jurisdiction which affirms the zoning in writing legally. The analysis portion is confirming all of those hundreds of pages and verifying current compliance for all aspects as well as right to rebuild provisions and providing legally backed assurances for everything. Most reports run in the 150-200 page range because you have to establish the applicable codes and legal basis at the time it was written (codes change, so it becomes the legally defensible document). I am working on some for cases in New York right now that will likely be 1,000 pages each.

What we do is VERY different from the ones that most other companies do which is just a regurgitation of simple facts by people with no planning experience. Everyone of us working on these have 10+ years in Planning at leadership levels.

 

[permittech2]