The Zoning Board of Appeals of Frederick, Maryland, met on March 26, 2019, at 7:00 PM at City Hall. The board considered one new business item: a conditional use application (ZBA19-153CU) from Olde Mother Brewing Company to operate a full-scale brewery at 526 North Market Street. The meeting also included approval of previous meeting minutes and acknowledgment of several zoning determinations completed by staff.
The meeting adjourned after the board recognized the birthday of former member Gail Colby.
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the March 26, 2019 meeting of the City of Frederick Zoning Board of Appeals. Before we get started with tonight's cases and agenda, I always like to go ahead and give a little bit of background about what we do here at the ZBA. Go over our rules of procedure for this evening and see if there's going to be any questions. We definitely have a light audience tonight, but on a rare occasion, it might be that somebody's watching us at home as well. So we'll go ahead and go through that, see if anybody's got any questions, and then we'll go ahead and we'll jump into the agenda that's our tonight's business. So just as some background, it's a responsibility of the zoning board of appeals to authorize on appeal in specific areas, cases, a variance from the terms of the city's uh zoning regulations to hear and decide special exceptions to the terms of the zoning regulations to hear and decide appeals of aggrieved parties when it's alleged that there's an error in any order requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative officer and the enforcement of division one of the land use article of the anti code of Maryland or any law adopted under that division, which includes the City of Frederick Land Management Code. So our decisions must be done in accordance with state law, and then also our local land management code, which is authorized under that state law. Members of the Board of Zoning Appeals here, we are all volunteers. We are all residents of the city. Also supporting us in our activities tonight and our work are members from the city staff. And so just uh to introduce everybody to my far right and everybody else's far left is Ms. Rachel DePoe, and she is an assistant attorney with the City of Frederick. Next to Ms. DePoe is Miss Gabrielle Collard. She is the manager, she's the division manager of current planning for here with the planning department in the City of Frederick. And then to my far left and everybody else's far right is Miss Jessica Murphy. Uh she's the office manager with the planning department. And in addition to all those numerous activities, she supports the zoning board of appeals in our work here volunteering for the city. Our procedures for tonight's case go as follows. Um I'll call the case by number, and if the applicant is here, um if they could give me a little wave and indicate that they're present, uh that'd be good. But before we get to having a conversation with the applicant, I'll ask for the staff report to be read into the record. Um the entire staff report will be read into the record, and at the end of the staff report, the staff might make a recommendations or uh multiple recommendations regarding uh this particular case. That is one element that the ZBA uses in uh our decision making process, but it is not the only element. Following the staff report, um, I'll ask if the applicant has any information that they would like to add or expand upon or clarify and that they would like to add. Um during that time period, members of the board may ask the applicant questions to garner more information that we need in our decision making process. Um following the applicant's uh testimony, we will ask if there are any members of the public that would like to give testimony regarding this particular matter. Um likewise we will hear from those members. Um and then following that, we'll ask if the applicant has any closing remarks or any um information they'd like to provide us in summary. Um that will close the testimony part of the case, and then following us hearing all the testimony, I will call for a motion from the board. Um we have five voting members tonight. Uh simple majority pass any motion, so three out of five votes uh pass a motion. Um if you happen to be speaking uh tonight at the podium, uh we're gonna ask for your name and your address for the record. If you happen to leave the podium and then come back for some reason, if we could have your name again for the record, that would be great. Um said, we don't have a packed house tonight, so we can probably keep straight uh who happens to be speaking. Um but everything tonight um and all of our proceedings are recorded. Um, and that is because anybody who's aggrieved by a decision of the zoning board of appeals has the right to appeal our decision to the Circuit Court of Maryland. That helps keep the record straight, helps the judge who might be reviewing the case keep straight who happens to be speaking at uh any one time uh during a particular case. Are there any questions about tonight's proceedings? No. Everybody seems good. All right. As I mentioned, we've got a couple of housekeeping uh items on our agenda uh that we'll go through and then we'll get on to tonight's case. So, members of the board, that takes us through our item one call to order and announcements. Uh item number two is general public comment regarding zoning in the city of Frederick. If anybody happens to be with us tonight that would just like to provide the board of zoning appeals with some information regarding zoning, not related to any of tonight's cases. Now is the time when we make that uh available to folks. And seeing no hands and no-takers, um, we will go to item number three. Members of the board, uh, you have before you uh minutes from our February 26, 2019 minutes uh meeting, and I will entertain a motion for uh approval. So move.