STANTON : Condo, Apartment Owners to Get Break

Local apartment and condominium owners should find it easier to sell their property now that city officials have recommended specific changes in the nonconforming-use provisions of the city’s zoning regulations.

Agreeing with the recommendations of the city’s planning manager, the City Council decided to reaffirm its intent to modify amortization and reconstruction provisions in the zoning code that would make overly dense apartments and condominiums in the city more attractive to lenders.

Because of a 1978 zoning change that reduced the number of allowable units per acre, about 10% of the city’s multifamily housing units do not conform to current density standards, according to a report by Michael Bouvier, the city’s planning manager.

The council urged the city’s Planning Commission to begin procedures to adopt a zoning-ordinance amendment that would remove the requirement that multifamily developments, which do not meet current density limits, must be removed or modified when “grandfather” provisions to exempt them expire.