ATLANTA, GA (March 5, 2012) – With cities and counties desperate to pump up sagging economies and land available at dirt-cheap prices, this is a great time to buy properties and rezone them for more profitable uses. But an increased willingness by local governments to approve requests doesn’t mean property owners can get away with being lackadaisical in their rezoning efforts.
Those were two of the points guests shared on the most recent episode of the “Commercial Real Estate Show,” which provided strategies and best practices for rezoning in today’s economic climate.
“This is a better time than it’s been in a long time to try to get rezonings because, frankly, governments have the ‘We’re Open for Business’ signs out,” said Seth G. Weissman (top right photo), a professor at Georgia Tech and partner with Weissman Nowack Curry & Wilco. “Jurisdictions that used to have hundreds of cases on the docket now have one or two zoning cases.”
“We have talked to the planning departments in several markets where we are selling land in the southeast and they say, ‘We’ll let you build almost anything – we just want you to come here and build and bring some jobs,” said show host Michael Bull (top left photo), founder and president of Bull Realty.
However, not all rezonings are slam-dunks in today’s market, cautioned Doug Dillard (middle right photo), a zoning attorney and partner with Weissman Nowack Curry & Wilco.
Local government planning departments don’t have a lot to do these days and staff members who have survived layoffs are anxious “to justify their existence,” Dillard said. “So, sometimes they make [rezonings] a little tougher.”
Before seeking a rezoning or early on in the process, a property owner or developer should talk with the local planner, the elected officials who will ultimately decide the case and the affected neighborhood groups, Weissman advised. “At the end of the day, that is the best way to take the temperature and figure out if this is a rezoning that has a prayer,” he said.
Those asking for a rezoning also should be diligent in meeting with those groups throughout the process, Weissman and Dillard added.
The person speaking on behalf of the zoning applicant in hearings and other meetings cannot be “faint-hearted or thin-skinned,” Weissman said. “You need to have someone who is not going to get emotionally wrapped up in the case but can present it in an even-handed, calm way.”
“Many times the opposition is emotional, and it [becomes] very personal,” Dillard added.
Weissman also noted that not raising certain constitutional issues during a zoning hearing will forfeit an applicant’s right to appeal a decision in court. The use of a zoning attorney can prevent a property owner or developer from being placed in such a situation, he said.
Other topics included standard rezoning timelines, negotiating tactics and property sales that are contingent on the buyers getting the properties rezoned. The full show is available for download here.
The next “Commercial Real Estate Show” will be available March 8 and will examine the issues surrounding commercial leases.
Contact
Stephen Ursery
Wilbert News Strategies
404.965.5026
