# Genrtal advice on obtaining a variance



## jimn (Nov 13, 2010)

You are going to have to call your city/town/county office who ever has jurisdiction in your area. If my case it's the town. I would need to provide a lot plan including the location of the shed. It doesn't have to be a work of art unless a wet land is involved. I also have to prove a hardship, in otherwise why I need the variance. An example of a hardship might be that if I locate the shed according to the side lot and setback rules it will be in a wetland . However if I move the shed 1 foot closer to the side lot, then I am out of the wetland. I am not sure what I would say about the height. I might win if I was ex NBA player and the code said I could only have a shed 6.5 feet high. I I would spend my entire time in the shed bent over at the waist. The application in my town gets filed with the planning and zone commission . The will schedule the application to be reviews and approved or rejected at a future meeting. If I don't agree with it we also have a zoning board of appeals . Small requests in our town can easily be handled by the owner. Business variances and major variances (such as change of use , extensive site work near wetlands or other major projects ) are best handled by a representative such as a land use attorney or engineer who is familiar with the local commission.


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## carpdad (Oct 11, 2010)

A lawyer I talked with said: First I apply for a building permit. The inspector will reject it if there is zone issue. Then I go to zoning board with a variance application. 
I can buy the house and assume the risk of rejection, or start with a contract that is completed only if variance gets approved. Since variance application from beginning to end can be up to 6 months (one town told me 4 months and that was fast), not many seller would hold up the house that long, and only really interested buyer would go through all this.


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## BrowneBearLLC (Apr 8, 2015)

Truth is there is a LOT of inconsistency from location to location. They are local codes that are sometimes strictly enforced and at other times not.

Here is a good general rule, only give the minimum amount of information as required until more is asked. Some people over do it and actually create more questions that can result disappointment. Case in point one drawing wanted a small shed near the edge of the property line where the city would have said no problem, until they saw that he also drew the neighbor’s garage next to it where it turned into a no


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