How to Check IOS Yard Zoning Before You Sell

If you own a truck yard, a trailer lot, a container yard or a contractor yard, one question a buyer will ask early is whether the yard use is allowed where it sits. A yard that has run for years can still rest on weak zoning ground, and a careful buyer will check it. This post walks through how to check it yourself before you sell: how to read a use table, why one yard can be several different uses, what a conditional approval means, and which papers show the use is allowed.

A summary, not legal advice: the Zoning Code itself governs.

Step One: Find the District and the Use Table

Start with the zoning map, which tells you the district each parcel sits in. Check every parcel under the yard, not only the one with the building on it, because a yard often spans several lots. Then find the code’s use table, the chart that lists uses down the side and districts across the top. In the City of Detroit’s code, for example, a C in a use table marks a use that needs review and approval through the conditional use permit procedures before it is allowed (Sec. 50-12-3).

The code may not use the words industrial outdoor storage at all. So search it for the activity on your lot instead: truck parking, trailer storage, containers, equipment storage or contractor storage. If an activity is not listed anywhere, some codes have a fallback. Detroit’s code lets its Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department make a similar use interpretation, based on the use category descriptions, for a use that is not listed as by right or conditional in any district (Sec. 50-12-7).

One Yard Can Be Several Different Uses

Owners tend to think of the whole lot as one use, but a zoning code often splits it up, and each piece can carry a different answer. In Detroit’s code, the item that covers trucking terminals and open areas for parking semi-trailers is a conditional use in the M1 Limited Industrial District (Sec. 50-10-23) but a by-right use in the M2 Restricted Industrial District (Sec. 50-10-47). A containerized freight yard is a separate item: conditional in M2 (Sec. 50-10-53) and by right in the M3 General Industrial District (Sec. 50-10-77). An outdoor storage yard is a third item again, with its own standards in Sec. 50-12-344 where it operates as the principal use of the land. The district-by-district breakdown for the City of Detroit sits on the Detroit warehouse page.

Other codes draw the same lines in their own way. The City of Riverside’s Permitted Uses Table has one row for an outdoor storage yard as the primary use, including contractor storage yards, and a separate row for truck and trailer storage as the primary use. Its row for outdoor sales, display and storage points to a separate Incidental Uses Table, so storage that is incidental to another use is checked in a different table from a yard that is the primary use. Its row for truck and trailer storage as the primary use is marked prohibited in every zone, with the note Prohibited Use. Detroit’s code draws a similar line: an outdoor storage yard on the same zoning lot as a principal use is incidental and accessory to it up to an area equal to ten percent of the gross floor area of the principal building, and above that it is a second principal use of the land, requiring a permit, and limited to the M3, M4, and M5 Districts (Sec. 50-12-344). The zone-by-zone letters for the City of Riverside are on the Riverside warehouse page.

So write down every activity on the lot and look up each one on its own. One yard can mix parking trucks, stacking containers, storing equipment and repairing vehicles, and each can land on a different row with a different answer. It depends on the zoning district.

What a Conditional Approval Means

A conditional use is not a no. It means the use needs a review or a hearing first, and the approval can come with strings attached. For Detroit, the City’s zoning division holds public hearings for conditional land uses, says Special Land Use Hearings are required for uses that are conditional in the specific district, and says those uses may be subject to developmental conditions that come out of plan review.

If your yard runs under a conditional approval, find the written decision and read every condition in it. These conditions can cover things like fencing, paving, screening, hours or truck routes. A buyer will want to know whether the yard as it runs today still matches what was approved.

Three Papers That Show What Is Allowed

Most of the proof that a yard use is allowed comes from three places, and each one proves something different.

The zoning verification letter. Each city decides what its letter covers, so read what yours actually certifies. A City of Dallas request form, revised in 2013, says its zoning verification letters include a copy of the zoning map and the zoning regulations on the property, but do not verify the status of buildings or uses and do not certify conformance or non-conformance of existing uses or structures. Detroit’s zoning division, by contrast, says its letters come from historical research and identify the zoning district, legal uses, and permissions for a specific use at a specific parcel.
The certificate of occupancy history. The same Dallas form points owners to the building inspection central files to review historical data, including certificates of occupancy, and says a certificate of occupancy is only issued when the building is in compliance with the building code and zoning ordinance. An old certificate for a use that has since changed may not describe the yard as it runs now.
The proof of legal nonconforming status. Cornell’s Wex legal encyclopedia, last reviewed in May 2022, says a nonconforming use arises when local governments change zoning laws and allow existing property some form of exemption from the new regulations. In Detroit’s code, the burden of establishing that a nonconformity is a legal nonconformity is on its owner (Sec. 50-15-4). So the useful papers are dated records showing when the yard use began and that it has run since.

How Nonconforming Status Can Be Lost

A yard that was there before the zoning changed can lose that protection. Wex notes that nonconforming property often may not expand its nonconforming use, that in some circumstances the use may only be granted for a limited amount of time, and that the owner may be prevented from returning to a nonconforming use if the property starts conforming.

Detroit’s code shows how this works in one city. It says the status of a nonconformity is not affected by changes of tenancy, ownership or management (Sec. 50-15-6). But it lists evidence that a use has been discontinued, vacant or inactive for a continuous period of at least six months, and thereby abandoned, and it says an abandoned nonconforming use shall not be re-established or resumed except in accordance with Sec. 50-15-28 (Sec. 50-15-31). The same section lets an owner try to rebut a presumption of abandonment based on that evidence by showing all of the following, to the satisfaction of the Board of Zoning Appeals: that the land and structure were maintained in accordance with all applicable regulations and the owner did not intend to discontinue the use, that all applicable licenses were maintained and all applicable tax documents filed, and that during the period of inactivity the property was actively and continuously marketed for sale or lease or other activities affirmatively prove there was no intent to abandon (Sec. 50-15-31). It also requires a public hearing at the Board of Zoning Appeals for the expansion or intensification of a nonconforming use, and counts any increase in the area of the zoning lot where the use is located as an expansion (Sec. 50-15-26).

For a yard owner, the practical questions are whether the yard has ever sat idle, and whether the lot or the operation has grown since the use began. Ask your attorney before counting on a use.

Stormwater: The Permit Question Buyers Add

The zoning file is not the only paper a buyer will ask about. The EPA says federal regulations require stormwater discharges from 11 categories of industrial activity to be covered under NPDES permits, unless otherwise excluded, and one category is transportation facilities that have vehicle maintenance, equipment cleaning, or airport deicing operations. The EPA says it has authorized many states to administer the NPDES stormwater permitting program, and that most industrial facilities will need to obtain NPDES permit coverage through their state. If your yard has a repair bay or a wash area, find out whether it carries that kind of permit, and keep the permit papers and any inspection records ready.

A Checklist Before You Sell

Look up the zoning district for every parcel in the yard.
Write down every activity on the lot and find each one in the use table, including any separate table for incidental or accessory uses.
Note whether each activity is allowed by right, conditional, or not listed.
Find any conditional or special approval decisions and read every condition.
Get a zoning verification letter and note what it does and does not certify.
Check the building department’s files for certificates of occupancy.
If the use is nonconforming, gather dated proof of when it started and that it never stopped.
Find any stormwater permit and its records.

Questions Owners Ask

Is industrial outdoor storage a use in the zoning code?

Not always by that name. Many codes name the specific activity instead, so look for truck or trailer parking, container yards, contractor yards and outdoor storage yards, and check each one.

Does a zoning verification letter prove a yard is legal?

Not always. Some letters only state the district and the rules, and some identify the legal uses for a parcel, so read what yours certifies before you rely on it.

Does nonconforming status survive a sale?

That depends on the local code and on the history of the use. In Detroit’s code, for example, a change of ownership does not affect it, a gap in use of six months or more can end it, and the expansion of a nonconforming use requires a public hearing at the Board of Zoning Appeals. Ask your attorney what that means for your building.

Selling a Yard With Open Zoning Questions

An open zoning question does not have to stop a sale, but it is better found early than late. We buy warehouses, IOS yards, and light-industrial and flex buildings from owners in all states. Truck and trailer yards, container yards, equipment yards, contractor yards, and laydown yards. Condition does not rule a property out. Tell us the situation and we’ll factor it in.

Tell us about your property and we’ll get back to you.

Sources

Facts on this page come from the public sources listed at the bottom, read on the dates shown.

Is Your Truck or Container Yard Legal? How to Check IOS Zoning Before You Sell