Board asks counsel to review zoning ordinance sections and update APC and BZA procedures

During new-business discussion, members asked the appointed counsel to review portions of the local zoning ordinance and the advisory planning commission (APC) and board of zoning appeals (BZA) rules of procedure and to recommend targeted changes.

An unidentified staff member (Speaker 3) told the body that “our rules of procedure are fairly outdated for APC and BZA,” and that some ordinance sections need review “to accommodate our county better to today's living.” The staff member said both attorneys the body had considered were willing to work on updates and suggested breaking the ordinance into sections for consideration rather than attempting a full rewrite at once.

A board member proposed separating ordinance work on solar projects from the battery-storage moratorium review so each subject could be handled independently. The group agreed that it was “odd” to combine the two and opted to pursue them separately. The staff member suggested the body “vote by section adjustments” and to identify specific ordinance sections with the most edits rather than attempting to review the entire ordinance in a single meeting.

Members discussed logistics for the counsel review and the practicality of staged ordinance updates. The transcript records no formal ordinance changes or votes to amend ordinance text at the meeting; the recorded actions were directional—asking counsel to review and return with recommended revisions.

The staff member also noted the ordinance is lengthy and recommended that the board identify priority sections for counsel review. Members agreed to provide red-lined sections and to start with the portions that had the most comments or “red tabs.”