Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast, number 792, Business Zoning.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 792.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
Our website is eslpod.com.
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This episode is about the exciting world of business zoning.
Let's get started.
Oh, this is it.
This is the perfect location for our new store.
Sorry, but this space isn't zoned for retail.
It's zoned for offices.
But couldn't we get the zoning commission to rezone it?
That's not an easy process.
The city's urban planners decided that this space would be best suited for offices.
Changing their minds won't be easy.
I've heard that a lot of new developments are being zoned for mixed use.
That's all we need to do.
We just need this building to be rezoned for mixed use.
Then we can use the space downstairs for commercial purposes and use the upstairs space for offices or even housing.
This area was zoned for industrial purposes over 30 years ago.
It took 10 years for it to be rezoned for offices.
It may take another 10 years to get it rezoned for commercial purposes.
Do you think you can wait 10 years to open your store?
No, I guess not.
What if I rented the space for an office and then ran my store out of it?
You'll never get a business license for your store if you do that.
Each type of zoning has different ordinances, and the inspector won't be fooled.
All right, I'll look for another space, but nothing will live up to this one.
That's the spirit.
This episode is about business zoning.
A zone, Z-O-N-E, is an area or a place that We might use the word district.
It's a certain area, usually within a larger area, such as a city.
This episode talks about business zoning, which are the laws that the government has about what kind of buildings you can put in one part of the city and what buildings you can't put there.
It will become a little more clear as we explain the dialogue, I hope.
The dialogue begins with Sybil saying, Oh, this is it.
This is the perfect location for our new store.
It's the perfect place for the new store that Sybil and someone else, maybe Leo... is going to open.
Leo says, sorry, but this space isn't zoned for retail.
Here zone is used as a verb.
To be zoned means that the government usually the local government, the city government permits or allows you to put a certain kind of building or a certain kind of business in this area of the city.
In the US, in most cities, there are certain places in the city where you can have houses and apartments, others where you can have stores, other places where you can have factories, businesses that make things, and so forth.
Sometimes you can have all three of those in one area, but not always.
And that's what we mean when we say an area is zoned for something.
Here, Leo says the space isn't zoned for retail.
Retail R-E-T-A-I-L is the sale of things, the sale of products and services.
Basically, it's a store that you can go in and buy something from.
That's retail.
So this area, the building where...
Sybil wants to put the new store, isn't zoned for retail.
You cannot put a store there.
The city won't allow you.
Leo says it's zoned for offices, business offices, places that people aren't coming in to buy things, but places where people work but don't sell their products right there.
Sybil says, but couldn't we get the zoning commission to rezone it?
The zoning commission would be the group of people, the group of government officials that decides whether or not you can have a certain kind of business.
They're the people in the government that decide what can go where in a city.
To rezone would mean, of course, to zone again, to change the law so that now you can allow, in this case, retail sales for that space, for that place.
Leo says that's not an easy process, meaning rezoning is not an easy process.
The city's urban planners decided that this space, this area, would be best suited for offices.
Urban U R B A N means the city.
Urban planners are the people who plan cities, who plan where things go.
The whole idea of urban planning is something that is popular, has been popular in the United States for, Of course, we're a newer country and newer areas, newer cities are being built all the time.
Well, not so much recently, but in the past 50 years, many cities have grown.
And therefore we need a group of people to decide well, where should certain things go in the local area?
And that's what urban planners do.
Leo says the urban planners decided that this space would be best suited for offices.
The expression best suited means most appropriate for something that would be the best use of this area.
He says changing the urban planners' minds won't be easy.
To change someone's mind means to get them to change their idea, to change their opinion.
Sybil says, The word development has a lot of different meanings.
It could mean change or growth in something.
But here it's used as a noun to refer to a group of new buildings, either houses or offices, or perhaps both.
Mixed use means that you have one building that has more than one building.
The first floor, which is the ground floor.
You may have stores or offices or something else.
So you have more than one kind of use in the same building.
That would be a mixed-use building or a mixed-use development.
Development usually refers to a group of buildings, not just one building.
Sybil says that's all we need to do.
We just need this building to be rezoned for mixed use.
Then we can use the space downstairs, the area downstairs, for commercial purposes and use the upstairs the second third, fourth floor for offices or even housing.
Commercial refers to business.
So what Sybil is saying is that they can have the building rezoned so that the first floor, the ground floor, can be used for her store, which would be a commercial purpose.
And the other floors, the upstairs in this case, could be used for offices or even housing.
But Leo says this area was zoned for industrial purposes over 30 years ago.
The word industrial, I-N-D-U-S-T-R-I-A-L, refers to making things, producing actual physical goods.
It's a type of commercial activity, but it's a specific type.
It's one usually involved in manufacturing something, making something, not just selling a service.
Once again, this is sometimes a separate zoning classification.
You can only have buildings where people are making things in certain parts of the city.
This area, Leo says, was zoned for industrial purposes 30 years ago.
Over 30 years ago.
More than 30 years ago.
It took 10 years for it to be rezoned for offices.
It may take another 10 years to get it rezoned for commercial purposes.
Do you think you can wait 10 years to open your store?
Leo is saying it's going to take a long time to get this rezoned.
Like a lot of things in government, it takes a long time for the government to take action.
That's true with any big institution, any big organization.
Sybil says, no, I guess not.
I can't wait 10 years, she says.
What if I rented this space for an office, then ran my store out of it?
She's saying, well, I'll say I'm going to open an office, but in fact, I'll have a store.
That's what she means when she says run her store out of it.
To run here means to operate or manage a business.
Out of it means in that space, in that area.
Leo says you'll never get a business license for your store if you do that.
In most cities, you need a license to have your business there.
Basically, it's a way for the city to make you pay taxes for having your business in that city.
The license is your permission to work and have a business there.
Leo says that Sybil won't get a business license if she tries to run her store out of a space that is zoned for an office.
Each type of zoning, he says, has different ordinances, and the inspector won't be fooled.
An ordinance, O-R-D-I-N-A-N-C-E, here means a law or a regulation, a rule that the government has.
An inspector is someone who goes around making sure that businesses are following the law, that they're doing what they're supposed to do.
To be fooled means to trick someone, to make them believe something that isn't true.
Leo says that the inspector won't be fooled by Sybil's idea of running her store out of an office.
He won't allow it, or she won't allow it.
Sybil says, all right, okay, I'll look for another space.
Notice, we use the word space typically when we are talking about an area that you rent or that you own for business purposes.
Sometimes people use that word to describe a room in their house or an area in their house.
It can be used in a lot of different ways.
Sybil says, I'll look for another space, but nothing will live up to this one.
To live up to something is a phrasal expression meaning to be as good as, or to seem as good as or better than.
He lived up to his reputation as a funny person, meaning he was actually as funny as people said he was.
He lived up to that.
You could say this meal did not live up to my expectations.
I thought this food was going to be better from this restaurant, but it wasn't.
Of course, Sybil is being pessimistic here.
She's being negative.
She doesn't think any other place will be as good as this one.
Leo says, jokingly, that's the spirit.
That expression, that's the spirit, is used usually in a sarcastic or ironic way.
You would think that that's the spirit would be a positive thing.
And it is that it means that's the right attitude.
You have the right motivation.
But it's usually used when someone's being negative and you're sort of making fun of them.
Oh, I'll never be able to get a date with that beautiful woman.
And your friend says, well, that's the spirit.
Meaning, of course, you're being too negative.
You should be positive instead of negative about your chances.
Though probably you won't actually get a date with the beautiful woman.
So maybe look somewhere else.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Oh, this is it.
This is the perfect location for our new store.
Sorry, but this space isn't zoned for retail.
It's zoned for offices.
But couldn't we get the zoning commission to rezone it?
That's not an easy process.
The city's urban planners decided that this space would be best suited for offices.
Changing their minds won't be easy.
I've heard that a lot of new developments are being zoned for mixed use.
That's all we need to do.
We just need this building to be rezoned for mixed use.
Then we can use the space downstairs for commercial purposes and use the upstairs space for offices or even housing.
This area was zoned for industrial purposes over 30 years ago.
It took 10 years for it to be rezoned for offices.
It may take another 10 years to get it rezoned for commercial purposes.
Do you think you can wait 10 years to open your store?
No, I guess not.
What if I rented this space for an office and then ran my store out of it?
You'll never get a business license for your store if you do that.
Each type of zoning has different ordinances, and the inspector won't be fooled.
All right, I'll look for another space, but nothing will live up to this one.
That's the spirit.
We have the scripts best suited to help you improve your English, all written by the wonderful Dr Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again, won't you?
Here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2012 by the Center for Educational Development.
