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Former council member urges pause on zoning rewrite over charter conflict
Summary
Former council member Todd Osborne told council the proposed zoning code amendments could transfer variance authority away from the Board of Zoning Appeals in a way he said conflicts with the city charter; City Solicitor Joe Braun said he reviewed the cited charter sections and did not find a conflict.
During the public hearing on the proposed zoning code rewrite, former council member Todd Osborne argued the draft contains provisions that would allow the zoning administrator to approve deviations from development standards—functions he said are assigned by the charter to the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).
Osborne pointed to specific packet pages and to charter sections that he said guarantee the BZA's powers to hear variance requests. "The proposed zoning text transfers at least part of the BZA's charter assigned variance authority to the zoning administrator, contrary to sections 9.01 and 9.04 a," Osborne said on the record, urging council not to advance the code until the charter conflict is resolved.
City Solicitor Joe Braun responded on the record that he had reviewed the cited charter provisions earlier that day and did not see a conflict with the language in the proposed amendments. Braun said he would answer further legal questions if council wanted additional review. Council proceeded with closing the public hearing and scheduling the first reading.
