Leo owned a one-story, one-family dwelling in a singlefamily residential zoning district in Detroit. He attempted to sell the house with its adjoining lot for $138,500. Houses in the neighborhood generally sold for $120,000 to $125,000.
Immediately to the west of Leo's property was a gasoline service station. In addition, Leo's property was located on a corner frequented with heavy traffic. After he received no offers from residence-use buyers during the period of more than a year that the property was listed and offered for sale, Leo applied to the board of zoning appeals for a variance to permit the use of the property as a dental and medical clinic and to use the side yard for offstreet parking.
The variance would be subject to certain conditions, including the preservation of the building's exterior as that of a one-family dwelling. Puritan-Greenfield Improvement Association, a nonprofit corporation, filed a complaint against Leo's variance request. Discuss whether the variance should be granted.