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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBZA Rules and Regulations - Amended 02-08-1996 RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS CITY OF ITHACA, NEW YORK (AMENDED FEBRUARY 8, 1996) In order to insure and protect the rights of all appellants and other interested persons appearing before this Board at a public hearing duly called by the Board of Zoning Appeals of the City of Ithaca, New York, this Board by the authority vested in them by the New York State General City Law and/or the General Municipal Laws and the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Ithaca, adopted May 25, 1977, and as amended, does hereby adopt the following rules of procedure : I . PROCEDURE FOR OPENING A PUBLIC HEARING A. The Chair of the Board, or in their absence, the duly elected Acting Chair, shall call the public hearing to order. The term "Chair" as used herein, shall include a "duly elected Chair" . B. The Chair shall make the opening remarks substantially as follows : 1) Call to order (by the Chair) 2) The duly appointed Board of Zoning Appeals, meeting in a formal public hearing in the matter of 3) Identify the members of the Board present, Secretary and Building Commissioner, and Recording Secretary. 4) This Board is operating under the provisions of the City Charter of the City of Ithaca and of the provisions of the Zoning Ordinances; the Board shall not be bound by strict rules of evidence in the conduct of this hearing, but the determination shall be founded upon sufficient legal evidence to sustain the same. Page 1 5) The Board requests that all participants identify themselves as to name and address, and confine their discussions to the pertinent facts of the case under consideration. Please avoid extraneous material which would have a delaying effect . C. The Chair shall further briefly explain the order of procedure to be followed, as indicated below, and then request that the Building Commissioner proceed with the hearing. II . GENERAL PROCEDURE OF HEARINGS A. If more than one case is scheduled to be heard at a public hearing the cases shall be taken in numerical order as listed in the publication of notice of hearing, unless the Board by motion duly made and passed, determines that some other order shall be followed. B. The Board will consider any request by an applicant for postponement of his case to a later meeting, but approval of such a request will require a majority vote of members present . In considering such a request, the Board will weigh the reasons for delay offered by the applicant in his or her interest, along with the public interest in achieving the earliest possible resolution of the case . If a variance is being sought to bring an existing situation into zoning compliance, the obvious public interest in prompt resolution will be given particular weight when a request for postponement is being considered. " C. Each case set for public hearing, except those withdrawn or postponed, shall be heard, and then the Board shall make determination of each case which has been heard. If, however, the Board feels there is a question of law or a question of fact to be resolved prior to its determination of a case, it may table the Page 2 matter or continue it to another meeting, pending such determination. 1) Questions of law to be resolved may be referred to the City Attorney. 2) If there be a question of fact to be resolved prior to determination of the case, the Board may resolve the question of fact from the testimony presented at the public hearing, or if further information be required, the Board may require an additional public hearing, which shall be duly published and noticed as required for the original hearing. D. The Board, upon motion duly made and passed, may adjourn a hearing completely or partially to a future time to be designated by the Board in said motion. The Board shall not be required to publish or give any other notice of said adjournment, since it is on the public record at the hearing. E. The Chair shall allow only the appellants and any other interested persons to give testimony or make comments to the Board at said public hearing. The Chair may determine who is an interested person and who is not an interested person. In general, an interested person shall be any person or persons whom he represents whose property would be adversely affected by the granting of the relief sought from the Board. People are considered to be interested persons if they live or work or own property within two hundred (200) feet of the property under consideration or if they are authorized representatives of an adjacent neighborhood civic group, or any City-elected officials . An agent may speak for any interested party in which case the interested party may not testify. Page 3 c F. Any person representing a civic group or association or several property owners, shall submit a written authorization from said persons constituting the group, to speak in their behalf . G. Anyone testifying or presenting argument before the Board shall confine themselves to the facts involved in the particular case being heard. The Chair or any member of the Board may at any time request that the person so appearing conform to the rule so above stated. 1) The appellant ' s written case must be filed in its. entirety in the office of the Building Commissioner no later than five (5) business days before the scheduled public hearing so that the file is available for examination by interested persons during the business hours of the Building Department . No further written information will be added to the file by the appellant or considered at the public hearing. 2) The Chair of the Board and any member of the Board shall identify for the appellant areas of the case in which clarification or further testimony is sought . The appellant will then have a brief period to address any oral arguments to those specific issues . 3) The Board shall then hear arguments in favor of the relief sought by interested parties . 4) The Board shall then hear arguments in opposition to the relief sought by interested parties . 5) The appellant will then be allowed a brief period of rebuttal of the arguments presented by the opposition or may request an adjournment to obtain facts which may not be immediately available to rebut the arguments raised by the opposition. Page 4 6) The appellant may, upon request of the Chair of the Board, and in the Chair' s discretion, examine any witness for the opposition. The Chair, however, may in their discretion refuse to allow any person to examine another person, and to require that the Board do all the questioning, if any is desired. When all testimony on a case has been heard, the Board will begin its open deliberations on the case, at which time no additional testimony or comments will be permitted from the public or the appellant . When the Board has completed its deliberations the members will vote on the case by ballot and the Chair will then announce the ruling of the Board. H. A tape recorded record of all presentations made before the Board in public hearing and the Board' s deliberations shall be available to the public in the Building Commissioner' s Office within three weeks after said hearing. The presentations may be available in said office, but shall not be taken out of said office. Copies may be made available at the expense of the person requesting them. I . The Board shall attempt to resolve all questions and make a decision in any case heard at that particular meeting. If there are only three or four members of the Board present for the hearing, the Board shall nevertheless attempt to make a decision. In special cases where the Board determines that it would be in the best interest of all concerned to defer decision until the rest of the Board can read the transcript of the proceedings and make a decision in any particular case, the Board may do so, but it shall not leave the matter without determination for more than a period of two weeks from the time of the original hearing unless it Page 5 determines that there is an unresolved question of law or fact or an additional hearing is required. J. All motions directed towards either granting or denying the application requested should generally be in the form of an affirmative motion. If a motion to grant a variance should fail for lack of three affirmative votes, the Board must then move to deny the variance and make determinations of facts which support the denial of a variance as required by Section K. below. In the event of a motion to deny the application, the application is deemed denied unless there are at least three votes against said motion. K. All motions directed towards either granting or denying the application requested shall include determinations of fact . Before a motion is voted on, a member of the Board shall make determinations of fact . L. After making findings of fact, a member of the Board may make a motion directed towards a decision and state the conclusions and reasons for said decision. M. After the Board has reached decision on each case heard at any particular session, except when the Board make a determination to delay decision on any particular case, under "II .D. " above, the Board shall announce that decision, including the findings of fact and reasons and conclusions. N. Appeals from a decision of the Building Commissioner must be filed with the Board Secretary on forms approved by the Board within sixty (60) days of the date of the written decision of said official and shall specify the alleged error or errors in such order, requirement, decision, or determination. Said written decision shall be the first of the following to occur: (1) the Page 6 date that a building permit is issued authorizing construction, alteration, demolition, or change of use; (2) the date that a building permit is denied for a specific action; (3) the date that a Certificate of Occupancy is issued authorizing use and occupancy of a building or property; or (4) the date that a letter is mailed or personally delivered indicating that a proposed use, construction, alteration, or change of use for a building or property would not be approved because it would be in violation of the Zoning Ordinance. III . DECISIONS A. The secretary of the Board of Zoning Appeals shall notify the appellant in writing, stating the decision and reasons of the Board; copies of such notice shall also be made available to any interested party who so requests a copy of said decision. An appellant or interested party may request and receive verbal information as to the results of a decision at any time during normal office hours after the decision is made. B. Any appellant who has additional facts which were not available at the initial public hearing or other arguments to be presented may request the Board in writing to rehear the case . Upon proper republication and notice the Board in regular session shall make a determination on the basis of the written material submitted as to whether said rehearing shall be held. C. Proper filing of a decision of this Board shall be effective upon the filing of the decision in the office of the Zoning Officer. Page 7 IV. TIME OF MEETINGS A. Regular public hearings of the Board of Zoning Appeals are held on the first Monday of every month except when an official bank holiday falls on Monday, in which event such public hearing may be on the second Monday of that month. Hearings are usually scheduled for 7 : 00 P.M. in the Common Council Chambers . B. The Board in its discretion may set a regularly scheduled public hearing for any other date by agreement of all the members. C. The Board shall avoid wherever possible holding hearings other than at the time when regularly scheduled, except in situations where the agenda is too large for a single meeting or other special circumstances arise . The Board shall not meet in special sessions to hear cases that have not been scheduled and for which the public has not been notified. V. QUORUM At least three members of the Board shall constitute a quorum and may conduct a public hearing as scheduled. A quorum may make full and final determination of all cases scheduled and presented, in accordance with the existing rules . VI . VOTING All decisions and all votes in a resolution granting relief shall be passed by at least three out of the five in favor of the said vote or resolution. Voting an appeal shall be by written ballot, indicating the date, case number and vote . The Secretary shall monitor the vote. VII . PREPARATION OF APPLICATION The Secretary is encouraged not to help prepare the application for appeals, since such action may put him/her in a Page 8 difficult position. The appellant or appellant ' s representative shall prepare the application, but may call upon the Secretary for guidance only. VIII . OUTSIDE COUNSEL The members of the Board are encouraged not to discuss a pending case with appellants or other interested parties outside the public hearing prior to final determination of the case . IX. AMENDMENTS These rules may be changed at any time during a public hearing special session by majority vote of any QUORUM present . X. These rules shall supersede any other written rules of this Board. Page 9