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Abandoned Non-Conforming Use
Warning:  I don't know what I am talking about here.  I am simply repeating what I am being told.  I don't have any reason to disbelieve what I am being told, I just haven't seen the ordinances in print to confirm my understanding.  Perhaps someone who ACTUALLY knows about this stuff will weigh in and explain zoning to me. I am repeating my understanding of what is going on because I think it is really interesting.  Part of the reason I love my job is that I get to learn new and interesting stuff all the time.
Anyway.....I am making offers on two commercial buildings in an older part of town.  In both cases, the underlying zoning is SF, single family.  In both cases, many years ago, these buildings were built, in violation of that zoning.  That makes them both a "non-conforming use", something that apparently is allowed to continue as long as the use isn't changed.  They are not "grandfathered" in. If something is "grandfathered", that means that the building was there before the zoning was.
Apparently, once that use is "abandoned", it rolls back to the underlying zoning.  In one case, the use may well have been abandoned.  That ... more

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