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Resident urges moratorium on Board of Adjustment actions until land-development rules are updated; staff points to online ordinance records
Summary
A resident asked the county to suspend Board of Adjustment actions until Suwannee County's Land Development Regulations are updated and made easily accessible online. County staff and the county attorney said commissioners lack the power to unilaterally suspend the board and noted that LDR text and ordinance amendments are available on Municode.
A Suwannee County resident asked the board on Jan. 7 to halt actions by the county's Board of Adjustment until the county updates and posts its Land Development Regulations (LDRs) online.
Curtis McClung told commissioners that the primary LDR book was adopted Sept. 3, 1992, and that the most recent update he could find was dated May 20, 2014. "Please declare a moratorium, and suspend any future actions by the board of adjustment until such time as the LDR is updated and can be reviewed online," McClung said.
County staff and the county attorney replied that the commissioners do not have authority at the dais to suspend the Board of Adjustment. "That board was created by an ordinance. So the only way that there could be any action taken against it ... would be via ordinance," the county attorney said. The attorney and Director Meeks also told McClung that the county's ordinances and amendments are published and searchable through Municode, a public online code-hosting service, and that applicants are provided the specific text of any amendments relevant to their applications.
Director Meeks said the county does not issue a new printed "book" each time the LDR text is amended but does provide the relevant ordinance language to applicants and that the Municode site contains the county's searchable ordinances. Meeks said in the specific case McClung raised — a special-exception application for automotive and agricultural equipment repair — there had been no text amendments affecting that use, so the regulations governing that application were current.
Why it matters: McClung and other residents said property owners cannot defend against decisions they cannot find. County officials countered that the relevant rules and amendments are publicly available through Municode and that suspending the Board of Adjustment would require an ordinance and public-notice steps.
No formal board action was taken on the moratorium request during the meeting.
