CC_Minutes_2007_0319 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

March 5, 2007 Page 2 The proposed amendments deal with appeals of a Variance Board's decisions, the manner in which appeals are heard by the City Council, and timing for all of the same. As some of you may recall, the provisions establishing the Variance Board and the appeals process to the City Council were added to the Code in either 2004 or 2005. The request for amendment therefore comes to the Council after two to three years of working under the new process, and attempting to work on perceived unwieldiness based on the experience during this time. The purpose of this memorandum is to give the Council some background in the law, the proposed language, and various legal principles the Council may want to keep in mind when deciding on any changes to Section 1014.04(C) of the Code. Legal Backdrop Chapter 462 of Minnesota statutes provides the authority and guidance for cities and townships in undertaking zoning. Zoning ordinances are meant to advance the aims of the comprehensive plans of a municipality. Therefore, in the first instance, to even pass a zoning ordinance, a municipality has to engage in the planning process and adopt a comprehensive plan. Once a zoning ordinance is adopted, by law a municipality is required to have a board of appeals and adjustment. See Minn. Stat. 9 462.354, subd. 2. Pursuant to that provision, this can be either a separate and distinct body that constitutes the board of appeals and adjustments; it can be the planning commission or a committee of the planning commission that acts as the board of appeals and adjustments; or it can be the governing body of the municipality itself. Whomever makes up the body, and whatever the body is entitled, it has the powers set fOlih under Minn. Stat. 99462.357, subd. 6 and 462.359, subd. 4, together with "such other duties as the governing body may direct." Id. Minn. Stat. 9 462.359 deals with very specific appeals relating official maps. The more common and general powers of the board of appeals and adjustment are set forth in Minn. Stat. 9462.357, subd. 6. There are two main powers of the board of adjustment. The first is to hear requests for variances. The second is to hear and decide appeals from any order, requirement, decision or detennination made by an administrative officer in the enforcement of a zoning ordinance. In a municipality where the council does not serve as the board of appeals and adjustments, the governing body has three choices in how it wishes to handle decisions of that board. It may provide the decisions of the board of appeals and adjustments on matters within its jurisdiction are final, subject to normal judicial review. Normal judicial review, pursuant to