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Council gives first reading to ordinance dissolving Board of Adjustment and transferring duties to Planning & Zoning
Summary
Town planner presented Ordinance 20-26-3 to dissolve the Board of Adjustment because of long-term difficulty maintaining a full, functioning board; the council approved the ordinance’s first reading after public comment and discussion about alternates and quorum requirements.
The Eatonville Town Council on May 5 gave first reading approval to Ordinance 20-26-3, which would dissolve the town’s Board of Adjustment and transfer its duties to the Planning and Zoning Board.
Town planner Tara Salmeri told the council the measure was proposed because the Board of Adjustment has frequently been unable to field a full membership and has received no complete variance applications during the planner’s four years with the town. "We've never had a completed application for a variance," Salmeri said, describing operational difficulties and the benefit of consolidating review functions with the planning board.
Council members queried whether dissolving the board would remove opportunities for residents to serve. One council member asked whether existing board members would be folded into the planning board or kept as alternates; staff and council discussed adding alternates to avoid quorum problems.
After a public-comment period — during which speakers urged fair processes and criticized repeated delays in filling boards — the council moved and seconded the ordinance for first reading. The clerk announced that the first reading passed after members signified "aye." No roll-call or individual vote tallies were recorded in the meeting transcript.
Staff and council members noted that the ordinance as drafted does not change the board’s duties; it renames the entity in code and aims to improve efficiency when applications arrive. If the council keeps a separate Board of Adjustment, staff warned, the town could face emergency meetings without a full slate of members; consolidating functions, they said, would reduce the risk of delay.
The ordinance will return for further readings per the town’s legislative schedule.
