In most municipalities, real estate has been fit into different zones. The three most common are residential, industrial and commercial. People who are buying properties in these areas can only use them in these specific ways. That’s why you typically don’t see industrial plants in the middle of residential neighborhoods, for example.
But there are some cases in which a business owner wants to use a property in a way that hasn’t been approved under the zone. Maybe they bought a house in a residential area, but they want to run a café out of the bottom floor and live over top of it. They may ask for a variance, allowing them to use the property commercially, even though it is zoned for residential properties.
This doesn’t change the zone
As a potential business owner, you may be worried if you find yourself in this position. It’s advantageous to you if you’re given the variance because your business probably won’t have much local competition. But after you get that variance, does it mean other businesses are going to move in because they are now allowed to use these properties for commercial reasons?
It does not. The reason for this is that the variance itself doesn’t actually change the zoning at all. Those other properties are still zoned only for residential use. All the variance does is tell one single property owner – you, in this example – that they can use their property in a different way. This doesn’t change the rules for any of the other properties, so those other business owners would need to get their own variances.
Navigating a complex real estate situation can be difficult, and it’s important to know exactly what steps you can take.