[LWJ]

John hits the nail on the head here. Bundle and negotiate!

In a similar situation with zoning on a waterfront location, my father in law negotiated demolition of a bunch of junk buildings if he could build two nice new buildings deviating from the code.

In the end, he was able to offer them something they wanted (removal of junk buildings) for what he wanted, construction of new buildings. Everyone felt like a winner. But in reality, we won, as the junk buildings were goners anyway.

Good luck,
Larry