Regulations and Zoning

What regulations must my business adhere to?  Most people think of zoning as a catch all.  If the zoning matches my use then I’m good.  Zoning is only the first checkpoint, there are a host of other municipal regulations from the town, county and state ranging from zoning, parking requirements, septic flow, public assembly, and fire suppression, that will determine if a property can accommodate your business.

Where I see this come up a lot is business owners who need 1000 square feet of storage space and 1000 square feet of office space.  In their search they will see a 2000 square foot warehouse space but with 200 square feet of office and think it is perfect because they can just build another 800 square feet of office in the open warehouse.  Not so fast, most warehouse spaces are in industrial buildings which have a lower statutory parking requirement (town zoning code), and a lower statutory septic flow requirement (county health department) than an industrial office flex building would have.  These statutory requirements often restrict the size of the office you can build in each unit, because more office space means more people which equates to the need for more parking and more water usage which the building and property isn’t equipped to handle.  

Another example is a church wanting to open up in a warehouse, because they need a large open space for their congregation, what they don’t realize is that a large public gathering can fall under public assembly and require fire sprinklers and other features that a warehouse space may not have.

The final example we’ll talk about today comes up quite a bit.  A restaurant owner wants to open in a retail space in a strip mall.  Does the septic system have the capacity to support this restaurant, or is the flow used up by the other tenants?  There is a calculation that determines this.  If there is room in the calculation to support a restaurant, how many seats will is allow?  Restaurants also require their waste water to go through a grease interceptor device or grease trap before going into the cesspool or sewer.  Does the space have an ANSUL system for fire suppression in the kitchen?  

My colleagues and I can normally help answer these questions and tailor the search appropriately, but don’t hesitate to call the town building department or the county health department and ask them what category your business falls under and what building requirements must be met.

If you have any questions about this article or commercial real estate email [email protected] or let me know in the comments below.  Don’t forget to subscribe to our email blasts!

Next week we’ll talk about Wastewater. View the article here.