Dunedin Board of Adjustment and Appeal Meeting Summary: April 15, 2026
Dunedin Board of Adjustment and Appeal Meeting – April 15, 2026
The Dunedin Board of Adjustment and Appeal (BAA) met at Dunedin City Hall, 737 Louden Ave., on April 15, 2026, beginning at 3:00 p.m. The board approved prior meeting minutes and considered applicants for one regular vacancy and two alternate vacancies. After interviewing applicants, the board voted to recommend appointments for all three positions and elected officers.
Consent Calendar
- The board unanimously approved the September 17, 2025 meeting minutes with no changes. The chair initially declared the motion approved before a formal vote; after a board member reminded the body that all members must vote on a motion, the board voted all in favor.
Discussion Items
- The board reviewed applications and interviewed Deborah Williams, Matthew Morrissey, and Amanda (last name not stated in the transcript) for the vacancies.
- Deborah Williams stated she worked in real estate, moved to Florida in 2014, and bought a home in Dunedin in 2020. She expressed support for preserving Dunedin as a small, coastal community and for maintaining properties that are safe, crime-free, and beneficial to the town's character. She also expressed interest in variance requests, food truck matters, food service, planning, and the community's future.
- Matthew Morrissey said he moved to Dunedin from Chicago in January, retired after 45 years as a trial lawyer, and came to the meeting in a spirit of service after the mayor encouraged residents to join boards and committees. He described his dispute-resolution background and said he had filled out an application online.
- Amanda said she wanted to be an active citizen and be part of the solution in her community, having dealt with neighborhood code-compliance disputes.
- The board and city attorney clarified that the BAA is a quasi-judicial body that considers variance requests and determines compliance with city regulations. They noted BAA decisions are binding at the city level and may be appealed to court; the board is not a code enforcement agency.
- The board initially discussed waiting to fill the second alternate vacancy and asked staff to check whether applicants Jonathan Darcy and Jeremy Reynolds were still interested. After Amanda arrived, the board proceeded with her appointment.
Key Outcomes
- Approved the September 17, 2025 meeting minutes unanimously.
- Recommended Deborah Williams for the regular member position, Matthew Morrissey as Alternate 1, and Amanda as Alternate 2. As noted during the meeting, these recommendations are subject to City Commission approval.
- Re-elected the current chair (not named in the transcript) as BAA Chair and elected Lauren as Vice Chair.
- Adjourned after completing the agenda.
Meeting Transcript
And uh I'd like to call the morning meeting to order. Uh the Board of Adjustment and Appeal is a quasi-judicial body, and certain procedures must be followed by the Board and persons appearing before it. The purpose of this meeting is to provide applicants the opportunity to present cases for the board for review by the Board of Adjustment and Appeal. Uh although this particular meeting we're going to be reviewing minutes and selecting um board members. The BAA is responsible to determine if any such applications comply with city regulations. This meeting is open to the public and all persons present for have this hearing have a right to voice their views regarding the application being considered by the board. If the competent and substantial evidence before the board does not meet the necessary standards set out in the code, the BAA has no recourse but to deny the request. Sorry. It is the responsibility of the parties to create and preserve a transcript of these proceedings. And we're going to proceed with uh the first item on the agenda, which is the minutes from the prior meeting of September 17th, 2025. And so I will need to have a uh a motion. Make a motion to approach the minutes. I second the motion. And therefore the motion is approved. Minutes from September 17, 2025 are approved with no changes. Great. The second item on the agenda is to identify and appoint uh members to the board. We currently have three vacancies, one regular uh position, and two alternates, alternate one and alternate two. Today we have uh attending uh Deborah, correct, uh and that's Deborah Williams, and we have Matthew. Um Matthew Morrissey. Welcome. Um there any questions that the board members have of the applicants? I have a question. Um I was wondering what made you interested in becoming a member of the board. I'm interested in becoming a member of that board. Could we ask you to come and make sure that the it's on? The middle button says push. Thank you. How's that? Is that better? All right. Um as one who worked in real estate prior, um, I moved to Florida in 2014. We bought a home here in Dunedin in 2020. It is our dream home and our forever home, and we are very concerned about our town and our town remaining a small community and a lovely coastal community. We um I am concerned about people um developers, residents, whoever it might be coming in and doing things to our town that takes away from the beautification of the town. I am interested in people maintaining their yards, their property, and keeping things safe and crime-free in this town. Uh as one who's worked um in this before. I'm interested in the board of the adjustments, appeals, hardships. I understand the food truck thing. I had also in my life worked in um food service, so anything like that I'm very interested in. I'm also interested in planning and the future of our community, and I'd like to keep it like a great community and a great place to live as we live in our dream home and I plan to live here until I'm no longer here. Thank you very much. To be clear, what we do on this board is we uh are in comp we determine compliance with the existing um codes. And so if there is a variance that's requested of us, we then look to the staff to give us guidance and then make a decision amongst us in terms of how it meets the code, the application, and then rule upon it from there. Um just want to be clear that you understand that that's our our function. Okay, great. And Matthew, did you have any comments or hello everybody? Uh uh Matt Morris is my name. Matt MAT like Matthew. Um I'm here in a spirit of service.
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