Board of Adjustment receives land‑use and quasi‑judicial training from staff and city attorney

Commerce City staff and City Attorney Elliot Schaffer delivered a study session to the Board of Adjustment on land‑use procedures, zoning mechanisms and quasi‑judicial decision making, emphasizing how board members should prepare for hearings, avoid ex parte communications, and base decisions on the administrative record.

Schaffer told the board that in quasi‑judicial matters the board acts like a judge: findings must be based on the record presented at the hearing (staff reports, applicant testimony and public testimony) and board members should enter hearings with an open mind. He warned that ex parte (one‑sided) communications can create grounds for a court to overturn a decision and urged members to direct outside parties to provide testimony at the public hearing…