Two communities recently announced specific strategies to address an increase in commercial vacancies.
Brookhaven NY “Floating Zones”
The redevelopment districts are what planning officials call a “floating zone” that can be superimposed on a specific property without changing the site’s zoning. For example, the zone could allow apartments or single-family homes on a site zoned for retail, as long as the housing project meets certain conditions.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/brookhaven-rezoning-retail-strip-malls-1.50126107
South Euclid OH “Dark Store Ordinance Resolution”
Council passed a resolution, a companion to the dark store ordinance, that will allow (Economic Development Director Michael) Love to work with the owners of vacant buildings to find what could be temporary uses for those buildings.
“We also realize, in some cases, it can be difficult to find new tenants and get properties re-occupied,” Love said, “so we do want to do this for landlords who are really trying to improve their properties and make them attractive to new tenants.
“We want to incentivize them to do that and don’t want to seem putative through the dark store ordinance,” he said.