Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting - January 24, 2017
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Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting - January 24, 2017
The Zoning Board of Appeals held a regular meeting on January 24, 2017, to consider one administrative appeal (ZBA16-1009AA) regarding the Caidlyn Property and the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO). The board also approved minutes from previous meetings and heard no general public comment.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the November 15, 2016 meeting minutes as written (motion by Mr. Patchen, second by Dr. Ying; unanimous aye).
- Approved the December 20, 2016 meeting minutes as written (motion by Mr. Butcher, second by Mr. Arno; unanimous aye).
- The January 20, 2017 field trip minutes were deferred for approval at the next meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No general public comments were made.
Discussion Items
- Case ZBA16-1009AA, Administrative Appeal, Caidlyn Property – The applicant, Caidlyn LLC (represented by attorney Noel Manolo), appealed the Director of Public Works' determination that a provisional school certificate could not be issued under the APFO's “three and go” provision after the project failed school adequacy tests for Waverly Elementary and Middle schools. Manolo argued that the director's interpretation led to an unintended “no man's land” that stalled the master plan process. City attorney Scout Waxter countered that the director correctly followed the APFO and that the board lacked authority to rewrite the code. After deliberation, the board reached consensus that the director did not err and that the board could not override the code's plain language.
Key Outcomes
- The board unanimously agreed that the Director of Public Works did not err in his determination and that the board lacks authority to issue a provisional certificate outside the APFO's mitigation plan process.
- The appeal was denied, and the director's decision was upheld.
- No additional items were discussed; the meeting was adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the January 24th, 2017 meeting of the City of Frederick Zoning Board of Appeals. A little bit of background on the zoning board of appeals for anybody who is here for the first time or happens to be watching at home. Members of the zoning board of appeals, we are all volunteers. We are all residents of the city. Also supporting us in our activities at the zoning board of appeals are members of the city staff. And so to my far right and everybody else's far left is Mr. Scout Waxter. He is an assistant attorney with the City of Frederick. And then to my far left and your far right is Ms. Jessica Murphy. And I promoted her to office manager last month. So my understanding is that promotion stands. So among her many duties here and supporting many of the boards and commissions and the planning department, she also supports the zoning board of appeals in our activities. So our rules of procedure that govern administrative appeals are slightly different than what you might normally see for a special exception or a variance or something along those lines. So tonight I will call the case. We only have one case on the agenda. We'll make a notation of any objections or any things we happen to have about the record if any of those happens to arise. Who happens to be speaking at any one time? We will also uh do a general swearing of witnesses for anybody who's planning to speak tonight when we get to that point uh on the agenda. Uh and so everybody will be properly sworn before uh we start with any kind of testimony. Any other questions? Or any questions? Seeing none? All right. Um we have a couple of housekeeping items on the agenda tonight. Uh we've got the review and approval of the minutes uh from our November and our December meeting, uh, and then also from our public field trip that we took last Friday. Um do we have those before us in our packet? I see Ms. Collard. We're gonna table those for for members of the board, is everyone uh uh our minutes from November 15th, 2016, December 20th, 2016, and our January 20th, 2017 field trip. So we've got December 20th in our packet just the field trip meetings are are have not been finalized yet. Okay. So members of the board, you have before you the November 15th, 2016 minutes and the December 20th, 2016 minutes. Um we should review and approve those separately. So I will entertain a motion regarding the November 15, 2016 meeting minutes. I'm moved to approve uh the minutes from November 15. We have a motion for approval as the minutes from November 15 as written from Mr. Patchen. Do we have a second? I second. Second from Dr. Ying. Do we have any further discussion of the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any in abstention? The minutes are passed. All right, folks, that brings us to December 20th, 2016.
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