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Pacific aldermen approve late agenda amendment amid dispute over Board of Adjustment notice and authority
Summary
At a Nov. 5 special meeting called for the FY2025 budget, Pacific aldermen voted to amend the agenda to address rescheduling of a Board of Adjustment hearing about a property variance; the vote drew debate about whether boundary adjustments were properly noticed and which municipal body has authority to act.
The Pacific Board of Aldermen on Nov. 5 voted to amend a special meeting agenda to add discussion about rescheduling a Board of Adjustment hearing tied to a property owner’s variance request, a move that prompted a sustained dispute over meeting notice and which municipal body may act on a boundary adjustment.
An alderman moved to amend the meeting agenda to include the Board of Adjustment rescheduling. After debate about whether special meetings may be amended without 24-hour notice, the chair announced the motion carried, recorded in the meeting as a 'vote of 4-2-1' with Alderman Mary Kelly recorded as abstaining.
The amendment grew from a property owner’s application in the Board of Adjustment packet that listed both a variance and a boundary adjustment. The applicant told the board multiple times that he "had not applied for a boundary adjustment," and asked whether the Board of Adjustment could still approve a variance even if the packet language referenced a boundary adjustment.
Board members and staff read and cited the municipal code in open session during the debate. The mayor read Section 110.010 aloud, saying, "Under section 110.010 is where special meetings are called with 24 hours notice," and other aldermen pointed to the town’s zoning code (410-030) on boundary-adjustment criteria and procedures, which notes that boundary adjustments "shall be submitted to the zoning officer for review and may be approved administratively by the zoning officer" and that the zoning officer may refer adjustments to the Board of Aldermen if they pose infrastructure or public-facility concerns.
A recurring point in the discussion was conflicting legal advice. Several aldermen described an earlier written opinion from the city attorney stating the Board of Adjustment lacked authority over boundary adjustments; they said that more recent guidance from the attorney appeared to change that view. One alderman said the earlier opinion cited code and facts, while later comments described the situation as "unique" and harder to reconcile.
The board and the applicant also discussed scheduling constraints: board members noted the Board of Adjustment packet requires a minimum 15-day notice for hearings, meaning any rescheduling would delay consideration and could increase the applicant’s costs for surveying and other preparations.
Rather than resolve the underlying zoning questions at the Nov. 5 meeting, the board took the procedural step to add the rescheduling matter to the agenda and signaled a need to reconcile attorney guidance and staff packet wording. After extended discussion, an alderman moved to adjourn and the meeting ended without a final ruling on the variance or boundary-adjustment authority. The board indicated its next regular meeting would be two weeks later.
The meeting record shows the board approved the agenda amendment and subsequently adjourned; no final decision on the property’s variance or boundary-adjustment authority was made at the Nov. 5 special meeting.
