The City of Frederick Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) met on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at 7:00 PM at City Hall. The board considered one conditional use application and tabled the election of officers. Three members were present (Sisson, Hicks, Hand) with Chair Racheff presiding.
So make the water. Welcome everybody. Sorry for the delay there, but I appreciate everybody's uh patience. Uh probably the hundred and five degree heat uh slowed everybody down uh a little bit. Uh but we now uh have everybody in attendance, and uh I'd like to welcome you to the June 24th, 2025 meeting of the City of Frederick Zoning Board of Appeals. Uh before we get started on tonight's business, I always like to start by giving a little brief background about the ZBA and what we do and what our procedures for this evening uh will be. It's the responsibility of the ZBA to authorize on appeal specific cases, um, variances from the terms of the city's zoning regulations, hear and decide special exception exceptions to the terms of the zoning regulations, and here and decide appeals of aggrieved parties when it's alleged there's an error in any order requirement decision or determination uh made in uh the enforcement of the land management code of the city of Frederick. Um we conduct all our responsibilities in accordance with the city's land management code and all uh Maryland state law. Members of the board here, we are all volunteers. We are appointed by the mayor, and our um uh appointments are confirmed by the city council members. Um still trying to get used to the name change uh a little bit there. Um and we're also uh supported in our work uh by uh city staff. Um uh and unfortunately I did not get Christina's last name, but to my far right, uh, and everybody else's far left is Christina Roderick, uh, who is the um division manager of current planning. Uh and then next to her is Ms. Gabrielle Collard. Uh she is the director of the planning department, and then to my far left and everybody else's far right is Ms. Jen Vandegreek, um, who is our administrative support extraordinaire, not only uh supporting everything that happens in the planning commission, but also the activities of us here on the ZBA. Um our procedures for tonight are pretty straightforward, but I'll go over them just to see if anybody has any questions. Um I will uh call the case number. Um we only have one case pending tonight, and I would say the applicant should let me know that uh they are present, but I think the applicant is with us. Um I will then ask for the staff report, um, which is the report prepared by the planning department regarding the particular case. Um the staff report will be summarized and read into the record uh in full. At the end of the staff report, the staff might make recommendation or recommendations regarding the case. That is one criteria that we use in our decision making, but it's not the only criteria. Following the staff report, um uh we will ask the applicant to present us with any information they think might be useful for us in our decision making process. They might want to clarify something that was in the staff report or elaborate on that. Members of the board might ask questions of the applicant as well. Um following the applicant's presentation and statement, I will then ask if there is any public uh comment regarding uh tonight's case. Uh any member of the public can give testimony regarding about any cases that are before the ZBA. Um and then following any public comment, if we have any public comment, um, I will ask the applicant if they would like to make a summary statement or address any points that might have been brought up in that public uh commentary. Uh following that, I will close the public testimony portion of the case, and I will call for a motion from uh the board. Um the board requires a simple majority of members present uh here to pass a motion. So for this evening, uh three out of four votes will um uh pass a motion that happens to be before the board. Um if you are planning on speaking tonight regarding uh the case or any case that's before us, um, we will first ask for your name and your address for the record. The reason for that is that um uh this is a quadrijudicial um procedure. Anybody who is aggrieved by our decision has the right to appeal our decision up to the circuit court of the state of Maryland. Um, and then that way we make sure that we have a full record for the judge, we have everybody identified who may uh be speaking at any time, and it just helps them keep the record straight when they might be going over any of the testimony that we've heard tonight. Any questions about tonight's proceedings? No. All right. Um seeing none. Uh we do probably have a couple of housekeeping matters on the agenda before we get started with uh tonight's case. If you're following along on your agendas, that is item number one, which is call to order and general announcements. Part number two sometimes can get a little uh confusing, but is general public comment about zoning in the city of Frederick not related to tonight's case. So if anybody every once in a while, somebody will want to give some general feedback to the ZBA or the planning commission about zoning. Um seeing that we have nobody indicating uh that for this evening. Uh, that brings us to item number three review and approval of the March 25th, 2025 ZBA meeting minutes. Uh members of the board, you have those minutes uh before you, and I will entertain a motion. Mr. Chairman, I would like to take make a motion to approve the March ZBA minutes.