Hi Guys,
I am wondering if anybody has any experience with getting land rezoned? I am currently looking at some land on interstate I-15 that is front parcel. The problem is that it is zoned for resource conservation, and in order to develop billboards it needs to be commercial highway.
The benefit of this is that the land is extremely cheap, but unfortunately there is no guarantee that I would be able to rezone, and it costs around 10k just to petition. Has anybody been successful in doing this, are there any suggestions as to a better route?
Hi Garrettreza,
I actually work in the same area (I-15). I recently found a couple abandoned signs that I wanted to refurbish, but their land had been rezoned in the last 10 years to public lands, In order to change it back to commercial zooming, you would also have to have an active business close to the billboard. Seemed like an expensive, uphill battle to me. However, I have heard of a local, family run billboard company (General Outdoor Advertising) who were successful at rezoning some areas, but it wasn’t an easy process per one of the partners, cost a lot and took a long time. Might be beneficial to contact them.
I believe the person I talked to was named Spike (seriously !).
I have a question for you. I am encountered a lot of sellers of commercial desert land who want to sell/lease several acres but have no interest in land leasing for billboards on the properties. Have you encountered this ? Are you going directly to businesses to land lease ?
Thanks,
George
I really appreciate that information that would definitely be a good place for me to start looking!
I have encountered this, my guess regarding the sellers who don’t want to do a land lease is that they probably just want to get rid of the land. And by there logic having a land lease would only lock them in further in to owning there property.
No, my original thought was just to purchase the land that way I could do whatever I wished with it. But the commercial land was too expensive, that’s why I wanted to see if anybody had successfully converted resource conservation land, which is much cheaper.
Thanks,
Garrett
Many of the sellers are selling acres of desert land and have no interest in subdividing their land into small parcels for billboards. However, there is a zoning called “Highway Commercial” which many of the big billboard companies’ boards seem to reside, I don’t know if this land is owned only by private parties or perhaps by the State/County. Govt agencies aren’t too receptive to give that info.
I think you have to have strong reasons to change a zone from resource conservation (aka “public lands”) and have a lot of patience & a good amt of funds, you can pull this off. Just an FYI, nearby railroad tracks or fiber optic lines don’t qualify as a neighboring business. I already tried that one.
Unfortunately, the billboard business doesn’t come with easy-to-follow instructions to become a success, and the CA regulations which have been passed in the last 10-15 years makes things even more difficult but not impossible. Only the very persistent and tough survive in this field.
Good luck, Garrett. Feel free to contact me offline if you have more questions.
George