Tempe Board of Adjustment Grants Continuance for Northsight Recovery Appeal on June 21, 2023
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Tempe Board of Adjustment Meeting Summary – June 21, 2023
On Wednesday, June 21, 2023, the City of Tempe Board of Adjustment convened at 2:00 PM (14:00) to consider an appeal and routine administrative items. With only five board members present (instead of the usual seven), Chairperson noted that four affirmative votes would be required for the appeal to succeed. The appellant requested a continuance, which was granted by a 3-2 vote. The board also unanimously approved the minutes from the January 25, 2023, meetings and adjourned.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The board unanimously (5-0) approved the Study Session and Formal Meeting Minutes from January 25, 2023. No corrections or discussion were offered.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made during this meeting. The public comment period was not opened because the only public hearing item (the appeal) was continued.
Discussion Items
- Continuance Request (Appeal PL220335): Evan Schlack, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for Northsight Recovery, LLC (the appellant), requested a continuance of the appeal hearing to the next regularly scheduled meeting. The appeal concerns the denial of a Reasonable Accommodations Waiver to increase the number of residents in a group home from five (5) to ten (10) for a proposed group home at 2604 South Siesta Drive. Schlack cited the reduced board size (five members instead of seven) and expressed that proceeding with a smaller board might be disadvantageous. The board discussed the vote threshold: with five members, four affirmative votes would be needed; with seven members, four votes would also be needed (not a majority). After a roll call vote, the continuance was granted by a vote of 3 to 2, with Board Members Morrill, Kegy, and Watson voting in favor, and Vice Chair Comford and Board Member Palmer voting against.
- Future DRC Meeting Announcement: Vice Chair Comford announced that a Development Review Commission (DRC) meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 27, 2023, at the Tempe Library and Historic Museum complex to discuss the General Plan. The meeting will also be accessible via WebEx through the city's website.
- Follow-up on Superior Court Lawsuits: A board member requested a follow-up on litigation previously discussed in January. Staff agreed to place an update on the agenda for the July 19, 2023, meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Continuance Granted: The appeal of Northsight Recovery, LLC (PL220335) is continued to the July 19, 2023, meeting at 6:00 PM.
- Minutes Approved: The minutes from January 25, 2023, were approved unanimously (5-0).
- Meeting Adjourned: The meeting was adjourned without further action.
Meeting Transcript
All right, we're gonna get started here. Welcome to the City of Tempe Board of Adjustment meeting for June 21st, 2023. The City of Tempe Board of Adjustment is authorized by the Arizona revised statutes, the City of Tempe zoning ordinance. Its function is to grant relief where a literal enforcement of the zoning ordinance would result in an unnecessary property hardship to interpret provisions of the zoning ordinance variances and to hear appeals from any city or I'm sorry, any person or city official aggrieved by the decision of the person responsible for the enforcement of the zoning ordinance, the zoning administrator and or hearing officer. The board has the City of Tempe Community Development Staff Summary Reports on the item being considered today at this meeting and will use this report in our deliberations. All applicants and interested citizens, when your request is called or when you wish to address the board, please make sure you filled out one of the citizen request forms located by the table or on the table by the doors. Then step up to the microphone, state your name and city of residence. Please submit the form to a staff member before you then begin speaking at the microphone. The staff we have in attendance today are Jeff Tamulevich, the director of community development, Ryan LeVasque, Deputy Director of Community Development, Steve Abramson, Principal Planner, Jennifer Daniels, Administrative Assistant, and Eddie Garcia for Media. So with that, we'll do a roll call. We'll start with board member Morrill. Present. Board Member Kegy. Present. Present. And board member Palmer. Present. Okay. So today we do have a short board in place. Normal uh quorum is four. Uh, in order for your um appeal to be uh successful, you'll need four of the five votes here. We our normal board capacity is seven, um, but we're at five today. Um therefore you have you have the option to proceed or ask for a continuance to the next regularly scheduled meeting, which would be in July ninth, I think it was the 19th, if I'm correct. Uh yes, please. Evan Schlack, I'm Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for North Site Recovery, the appellant. Is it the same ratio? The four to seven if it's the full board. It would be four of seven. You have to you have to have four. So if there were four people here, you'd have to have all four affirmative. If there are seven, it needs four of that seven. Today we have five. I think it would be in our benefit to ask for a continuance if we can. We can grant that, Mr. Abramson. Do I need to do anything specific? You need to do a roll call vote. Some somebody needs a motion to allow for the continuance, must be seconded, so on. Okay. So I'll look for a motion to allow or deny the continuance. Board member Morrow. I will move for a continuance to our July 19th meeting. Okay. Second. Second. Uh Board Member Kige seconds. I will take a vote. Um, please, if you're in support, please say affirmative or aye. Board member Morrill. Okay, got that.
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