Good evening, everybody.

Welcome to the July twenty third, twenty twenty-four meeting of the City of Frederick Zoning Board of Appeals.

Before we get started with tonight's meeting, I always like to at least give a little short introduction to the Zoning Board of Appeals for anybody who might happen to be watching or might not be a frequent flyer with us here.

We conduct all of our responsibilities in accordance with the city's land management code and all applicable Maryland state law.

Members of the board are all volunteers.

Um we are appointed by the mayor, and those appointments are confirmed by the board of aldermen.

Um the board uh has four members to constitute a quorum, as we just discussed uh before we started the meeting.

We have four members uh with us here tonight.

The board is also supported in our activities by members of the city staff.

Um, and to my far right and um uh your far left is uh Ms.

Gabrielle Collard.

Uh she is the director of the planning department here with the City of Frederick.

Um next to her is Miss Monica Robbins, she is a planner here with the planning department in the city of Frederick.

And then to my left and your right is Miss Jennifer Vandergreek, and she is the office manager here with the planning department.

And in uh addition to her numerous, numerous numerous tasks, she supports the ZBA in our activities uh here tonight.

Um our procedures for tonight's cases are um basically as follows.

I will call the case by number.

Um I we have one case on our agenda, and I see that the applicants are here.

Usually I ask for a wave.

Um I will then ask for the staff report.

The staff report will be um summarized and uh entered fully into the record.

Um at the end of the staff report, the staff may make a recommendation or recommendations concerning the case.

Um that is one element that the board uses in our decision making, but it is not the only element.

So following the staff report, I will ask the applicant to give a statement.

Um during that time, the applicant may clarify or expand on their application.

Um they might provide um additional information that they think is useful to the board.

Members of the board might ask questions of the applicant or the applicant's team during that time.

Um following the applicant's testimony.

I will call for any public comment regarding the case.

Any member of the public may offer testimony regarding any of the cases before the ZBA.

And then following any public testimony, I will offer the applicant an opportunity to make any closing statements or address any issues that have been uh raised during uh um public comment.

Um I will then close the um public testimony portion of the case.

I will ask for a motion uh from the board.

Um, a majority of uh members of the full board constitutes um what we need to pass a motion.

So that would be three out of the four members here need to vote in the affirmative for any motion to pass.

Um questions regarding procedures from anybody.

No, all right.

Yes.

This is for an appeal, but there wasn't an initial uh request, right?

This is this is the request.

Yes.

So so the board can hear appeals, and I know we're called the zoning board of appeals.

Um, but we also hear like temporary uses, special exceptions, um, and things like that.

So there's some things in the land management code that would say um uh a property owner could do X, Y, and Z if they come before the board and get um an exception to that.

Um, entertainment at a restaurant downtown is a good example, right?

So if you got a restaurant and you want to have a band, you've gotta have an application that we review, even if though there's been no initial decision.

So we get a couple little extra stuff in there.

Um so following along with our agenda this evening uh for uh anybody who is following along.

This is item number one, which is our call to order and announcements.

Item number two is general public comment related to zoning um broadly in the city of Frederick.

So every once in a while we have a member of the public that just wants to talk about zoning in the city's approach to zoning.

If we have anybody tonight interested in doing so.

Seeing none, uh, we will move on to item number three, which is review and approval of the May 28th, 2024 meeting minutes.

Uh, members of the board, you had those minutes in your packet, and I will entertain a motion.

Mr.

Speaker, this is Bob Sisson.

I make a motion that we accept the minutes as written.

We have a motion for Mr.

Sisson to accept the minutes as written.

I second the motion.