Marietta staff to refine broad zoning-code rewrite to align with state ZPL; council eyes January committees

City zoning staff presented a consolidated rewrite of the zoning ordinance intended to bring local code into alignment with the state Zoning Procedures Law (ZPL). Daniel Weinstein summarized changes spanning quasi-judicial definitions, 30-day notice requirements for variances, removal of administrative variances, and consolidating hearing procedures that had previously lived in bylaws.

Staff said many changes are procedural: moving BZA procedures into ordinance language, renaming sections for clarity, and clarifying which decisions are "quasi-judicial" (variances, special land use permits, appeals) versus zoning decisions. Draft language also addresses how variances must be implemented within one year, when they must be reapproved, and the process for appeals (petition for review). Staff flagged a few typos to be corrected and proposed flexible meeting-date language to avoid holiday conflicts.

Council raised several policy questions: whether automatic removal for missing three meetings is appropriate or whether automatic removal should be replaced by reporting to council (discussion included options such as "3 of 7" versus "3 in a calendar year" and counting only regular meetings). There was also a request to narrow which director-level decisions are appealable (planning and zoning decisions vs. all Department of Development Services decisions). Weinstein said staff will incorporate suggested edits and return a revised draft to January committee meetings with targeted cross-reference fixes in the code.

The committee did not adopt the ordinance at this meeting; staff will issue an updated draft for the January committees and aim for possible passage in February.