Subject:
Title
Board of Zoning Appeals Alternate Member
Body
Purpose:
Mayor Colbert asked that this discussion be held to gauge the Council’s interest in nominating an alternate member to the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Key QUESTIONS:
Does the Town Council wish to appoint an alternate member to the Board of Zoning Appeals, to act as a Board member when a member is absent?
BACKGROUND SUMMARY:
The Town of Vienna’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) has seven members, who become members through recommendation of the Town Council and appointment by the Fairfax County Circuit Court. Due to absences of board members, there have been (very occasional) times when the required quorum of 4 members has been at risk. More frequently (more than 50% of the time in the last three years), there have been instances when all seven members have been unable to attend.
For any decision vote, the State code requires that a majority of the membership vote concurrently. As such, there must be 4 concurrent votes for a decision. When fewer than 7 members are in attendance, and especially when the attendance is 4 or 5 members, the difficulty in achieving 4 concurrent votes increases.
In the past two years, two board members have approached the Mayor and staff with the suggestion that the BZA have an alternate member who can attend any time there is an absence.
Attachment 01, the Staff Memorandum, provides further discussion of this topic.
OVERVIEW:
The Mayor has requested an opportunity for the Town Council to discuss whether it would be advisable for the Town Council to appoint an alternate member of the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA). BZA members have discussed the matter during one of their regular meetings and were generally supportive, though no vote was taken to memorialize their position.
The Town Code (Attachment 02, Section 18-815), does not specify the number of members that are on the BZA, but instead references State code (Attachment 03, Section 15.2-2308.A.), which establishes the guidelines for approving members but also provides the authority to have up to three alternates on Vienna’s BZA.
As such, staff believe that no change in Town or State code would be required to appoint an alternate member.
SUMMARY/STAFF IMPRESSIONS:
Staff believe that there would be a benefit to appointing at least one alternate member of the BZA, as it would allow more meetings to be attended by the full 7 intended members. There would be very little cost in such an appointment.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
Staff recommend that the Town Council consider appointing one alternate member of the Board of Zoning Appeals. If additional alternates are needed, such appointments may be done at a later time; but beginning with one alternate would offer a benefit to applicants and to the property functioning of this very important decision body.