In my view, 'commercial', for the purposes of our covenants, means not only someone actually selling items in SL, but also what 'appears to be' a business in SL. Otherwise, I don't see a lot of reason to have these terms in the covenants at all. We have our central downtowns in Neufreistadt and in Colonia Nova, and in Locus Amoenus for commercial areas, and some that sprawl out a bit from the downtowns. To me, this makes sense as it does in real life (although don't get me started on 'sprawl' in RL!). There are existing variances which also make sense.
Here are the current covenants that apply specifically to 'commercial' zoning (excerpts).
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From the General Covenants, General Rules: Vendors must be inside of buildings and are only allowed on commercially zoned lots.
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Neufreistadt: A) Zones and Typologies:
Zone O – standard parcels: (Outside city walls) Residential only. Commercial activity is prohibited.
Zone I: (Inner city) Commercial and residential use.
*Currently, we have buildings on what was originally conceived as only commercial use in Zone 1, in particular on the platz, that are not actually selling anything, but that appear to be commercial businesses. i.e. the Hairdressing Salon, the Irish Pub, the Sake place, the MoCa cafe and a few others. And, there are a few businesses that actually have things for sale. The way I see it is that having businesses that both sell items, and that appear to be businesses add life and realism to the area. It feels like a downtown because of the Irish Pub, the cafes and hairdresser, as well as because of the shops that have things for sale.
If we look at the now repealed law, NL 4-2 Marketplatz Zoning Act, we see that originally this central hub was expected to be commercial and to make money. We've repealed this law, because in the current iteration of SL, this doesn't make sense anymore. It's difficult for small creators to sell much; but we still want to have a commercial area, because they are the centres of community life in real life.
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Monastery: Monastery is a residential sim with the exception of the Monastery itself. Commercial functions are not permitted.
*Currently, we have the Gasthaus on one of the parcels. This is entirely appropriate as the countryside in real life has the odd stand-alone little pub or inn. A variance allows this.
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Alpine Meadow: No commercial functions permitted.
*Currently, we have the Mexana Monica, a Bulgarian style restaurant. This is the same as the Gasthaus in Monastery in that it fits well with the idea of a countryside restaurant. Also, the new Viktoria Luise Museum of Art which is 1/2 on Colonia Nova and 1/2 on Alpine Meadow. A variance allows these too.
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Colonia Nova
Zones and Typologies
Zone R (Villa Quarter) and Zone L (South Riverfront Plots) - 3. Residential only 4. Commercial activity is prohibited.
Zone C (Inner City) 12. Commercial and residential use.
Zone E (Cardo Plots) 25. Mixed commercial and residential use
*Currently there is nothing outside of these covenants requiring a variance other than the new fishing village and possibly the new Viktoria Luise Museum of Art which has a variance. (are museum's commercial?). With the new Stella Marina fishing village, a new covenant must be developed to include it and updates to the forum buildings. This is now on the LUC's Agenda.
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Locus Amoenus
Zoning Information:1. Zone H: (Harbor and beachfront) a. Commercial and residential
2. Zone C: (Countryside) a. Residential only. Commercial activity is prohibited.
Zone F: (Fishing Village) a. Mixed commercial and residential, small in scale
*Currently there is only the Vista Abbondante agriturismo property in Zone C that is outside of the covenant. Again, this being inside a Tuscan style farmhouse makes perfect sense and a variance allows this.
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For anyone worried about any current buildings being removed if we define 'commercial' as "if an entity appears to be commercial in nature, regardless of whether anything is set for sale, it shall be considered commercial for zoning purposes", I would put you at ease. There is nothing that isn't currently appropriate that would need to change. My concern is for future development and keeping the character of Residential and Countryside where we have indicated it. There is a difference between those and areas deemed for commercial or mixed usage, and I think that defining commercial to include 'what appears to be a business' in the definition is warranted so that we have a way to maintain our residential and rural areas. Also, there is always the ability to ask for a variance so that any new cases could be taken on their indiviual merits.