Board member John George resigns; members raise concerns about survey accuracy for new builds

Board of Adjustment member John George tendered his resignation at the meeting; the board chair thanked him for his service, noting George joined the board in April 2021. The board said the city commission will appoint a replacement and that the board will appoint a vice chair at a future meeting. Later in the meeting several board members discussed recurring discrepancies found in final property surveys for new, production-built homes, particularly where subsequent improvements (pools, screened enclosures) lead to encroachments of a few inches to a foot or more. A board member said that when a surveyor makes an error the remedy is typically a private dispute between the property owner and the surveyor and that state-level licensing complaints are the mechanism to pursue disciplinary action. Board members noted the practical challenge that many production builders and developers use surveys and that inaccuracies commonly surface only after final construction or when additional improvements are installed. The board discussed that reputable surveyors typically carry errors-and-omissions insurance, but that municipal options to sanction surveyors are limited; the board member advised that oversight and license revocation would be handled at the state level rather than by the city. No formal action was taken on either the resignation (procedural steps to fill the vacancy were noted) or on the surveyor discussion, which was framed as a policy concern for future consideration.