Ada Township - Got your zoning compliance permit? | News

From: Ada Township Online

A recent zoning amendment calls for the issuance of a zoning compliance permit by the Township, prior to any new construction or change in the principal use of any land or building in the Township. The intent of this change is to encourage property owners to make sure that proposed construction or a change in the primary use of property complies with the zoning rules, before undertaking the activity. Another benefit of the new requirement is that it provides the property owner with written documentation of compliance, rather than relying on a verbal confirmation alone, with no record.

For any construction that requires a building permit, there will be no change from the current procedures, in which the Township planning & zoning staff review all building permit applications to determine whether the proposed work conforms with the zoning rules.

The primary impact of the new requirement will be on construction activities that do not require a building permit, such as construction of buildings used for agricultural purposes, which are exempt from building permit requirements by State law. Anyone constructing an agricultural building will now need to submit a simple "plot plan" to the Township prior to construction, to obtain verification of zoning compliance.

The new requirement will also affect changes in use of existing buildings from one type of use category to another. For example, if the use of a building is proposed to be changed from a warehouse use to manufacturing, or from a residential use to an office use, a zoning compliance permit is required.

The zoning compliance permit application can be found on the Township web site, on the "Forms" page of the Planning & Zoning Department.

There is no fee required to obtain the required zoning compliance permit.