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L~nding a Helping Hand: What Planners Can Do to Turn Around Distressed Properties By Dwight H. Merriam, FAICP "When things go wrong, you'll fi~d they usually go .on getting worse for some time; but whenthings once start going right they often go on getting better and better." These words by C.S. Lewis have meaning for planners today, who have a role to playas turnaround agents. There are opportunities with distressed properties to turn them into beneficial uses, but in most instances some type of zoning relief will be necessary. . It is axiomatic that distressed properties are likely to be older properties that are physically, functionally, and economically obsolescent in some form. Along with such obsolescence typically comes the unhappy status of being a nonconforming use. And along with that comes the inability to expand or alter the use because one or more of the dimensional requirements at the site have been exceeded orthe use proposed is simply not permitted. . . In short, these older, distressed prop- erties are trapped inside zoning restrictions that preclude attempts to reposition them in. the marketplace and return them to profit- ability. Essentially, what planners must do is figure out how to respect local plans, con- form redevelopment to the neighborhood as it is and is evolving, and add enough loose- ness to the jointsofthe zoning require- ments to enable the owners and developers of distressed properties tomeetthe market. If you have ever seen extreme jugglers-'-like one who juggles a running chainsaw, rock, . and flaming torc~-you will have a sense pf how challenging, and dangerous,this can be. The alternatives for relief are several. They start with the most conventional ap- proaches and run to the possibility,of a, new type of zone, created especially for the recent credit crisis and distress in the real estate economy. CONVENTIONAL REZONING Usua~ly, the best place to start is in the world of the status quo, the as-of-right, and the zoning ordinance as it exists. If you . have an underdeveloped, older group of apartments that is economically distressed and the zoning allows a higher density in a preferable layout, then an as-of-right appli- cation would be the typical first choice. The instances where this is possible are few and far between. Seattle is one good example: It has re- zoned property in distresSed areas to enable more intensive deyelopfnent. Here is how Seattle described thesituation: " . . . the neighborhood plan covers an area that has been included in a City sponsored neighlJor- hood planning program because of the pres- ence of economically distressed areas and support forthe rezones has been demon- strated through the neighborhood planning process: . ." (Ordinance 119799, 1999). To get the rezoning to the more inten- sive use, the applicant must meet several criteria, one of which is that the planning area for the rezoning must have been "in- cluded in a City sponsored neighborhood planning program because of the presence of at least one distressed area." In St. Paul, Minnesota, the city amended its Comprehensive Plim to pro- pose small-area rezoning forthe Brewery/ Ran-View area to create a mixed use and mixed income community on reclaimed . industria'lland in the mlddleofa historic neighborhood (Brewery/Ran-View Small Area Plan. 2000).The plan addl;!ndum in- cludesasmall, 40-acre study recommend- ing four areas for rezonings, some of them .. single parcels. 88 ZONINGPRACTlCE 12.09 AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION Ipage2