Discretionary Zoning Approval

DISCRETIONARY ZONING APPROVAL is any approval which results from a process whereby zoning officials have discretion-- which is to say a choice-- as to whether to approve or not to approve a project based on supposedly objective criteria. This might be handled "administratively" by staff alone, as in the case of a conditional use permit for a live/work conversion in a manufacturing zone, or through a public hearing process as might be required by a variance or Major Conditional Use Permit. The opposite of this is called as-of-right, in which approval is more or less guaranteed as long as one follows the code.