Facing The Opposition - Part II

Part II

In part I we talked about our property that was filled with mobile homes. We are ready to turn this into a residential property. Where do we go from here?

A good engineer would be able to guide you to the highest and best use, and cost you very little money up front. Go to them and they will come up with what they think the highest and best use is, and then the feasibility of getting that done. They'll come back to you with a plan, and then they'll go to the city and see if the city's got any problems with it and if the city says, "Yeah, fine we would love to have it" - then you are in a good place. And my guess is, if it is truly a sleepy little fishing village then they are probably hurting for the development. They need the tax revenue, they'd like to see somebody come in there and make something happen.

You may question if any of the residents are going to be opposed to it.

The truth of this is you don’t really have to worry about this. Depending upon what side you are on, residents do not get to decide what happens in a city, they can just complain about it. And, I can tell you stories about time after time after time where residents create a big stink and the city approves it anyway. First, you need to understand that there are laws, the people at the city are elected, they have to abide by the laws, and you have rights as well as a property owner. When the people that lived around that property bought that property, (especially those that bought it after you had a mobile home park there) there was nothing set in stone.

Nobody guaranteed them that the mobile home park usage would never change, and you have the right to do with your property whatever the city has within their plan as allowed.

So, they may complain. I've got a situation like that in Michigan right now. Let them complain. I'm taking a 40-acre tract and beside it are a handful of neighbors who would rather see that 40-acre stay and remain vacant land, because they are afraid of the traffic and so forth. But, so be it. There is not much you can do about it, not much they can do about. In fact, the city doesn't have to grant you the zoning (don't get me wrong, they can turn it down), but on the other hand you can go back and challenge that. Because if they don't have any valid reason to turn you down, they can't turn you down and you can sue for your rights.

We will discuss this further in Part III.