Central Section

Post edited 9:48 am – June 23, 2011 by jeffo

Is it just me, or do others have difficulty explaining the differences between the General Plan Land Use designation, the zoning, and the physical use of a piece of property?  I mean, I know the differences, but people seem to have a tough time grasping say, Low Density Residential vs. R-1. Perhaps ironically, I think it's particularly tough in cities that basically have only one zoning district per GP Land Use designation.

I can explain that the General Plan indicates that a property's land use is Medium-High Density Residential and that the zoning is M-1 (Light Manufacturing, a horrible inconsistency, but oh, well), and the response from the owner is that, no it's commercial and always has been.  It gets further complicated when nonconforming uses enter the picture.

An additional problem is that GP and zoning are clearly differentiated in the law, but it sounds like a bunch of semantic nonsense to the typical person who just wants to add some more nonconforming businesses in the building on his MHDR/M-1 property.