People who want to open businesses might need to get zoning variances if their chosen locations are not zoned for the types of companies that they want to operate. To get a zoning variance in Georgia, people will need to make a request to the zoning board and present evidence that a variance will not decrease the values of other properties in the area.
Zoning restrictions are meant to help to keep the values of property in an area high. When a business owner wants to open a business in an area that is not zoned for the property, the owner will need to demonstrate that he or she has valid reasons for needing the variance and that the home prices in the area will not be decreased as a result.
Variances are exceptions to the requirements for a particular area. For example, if a business owner wants to open a retail clothing store in an area that is zoned for residential uses only, he or she will need to secure a variance before locating the store there. People who operate home-based businesses might need to get variances, depending on the type of business that they operate. They may have to talk to their neighbors and obtain their responses to present to the zoning board.
People who discover that the area in which they want to open businesses are not zoned for the types of companies that they want to open may benefit from consulting with experienced real estate law attorneys. Real estate lawyers might help their clients to gather evidence to support the reasons why they should be granted variances. A business that opens in an area without a variance may be forced to close if the zoning laws for that area do not allow companies of that type to operate there.
