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City Council Minutes 2009 09-13-09 Special Meeting MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING JOINT MEETING OF THE UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE CITY COUNCIL. AND THE UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS. HELD IN THE UNITED CITY OF YORKVILLE, ]KENDALL COUNTY, CITY COUNCIL CONFERENCE ROOM 800 GAME FARM ROAD ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2009 Mayor Burd called the meeting to order at 6:05 p.m. ROLL CALLIINTRODUCTIONS. Introductions were made around the table. Those present were: City Council Ward I Gilson Present Werderich Present Ward II Golinski Absent Plocher Present Ward III Munns Absent Sutcliff Present Ward IV Teeling Present Spears Present Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman Jeff Baker Mike Skinner Corey Johnson Charlie Walker Also present were City Clerk Milschewski, City Attorney Orr, City Administrator McLaughlin and Community Development Director Miller. BUSINESS Mayor Burd stated that she thought it would be beneficial for the City Council to learn about the hearing process and how the Zoning Board of Appeals comes to a decision. Chairman Baker explained that the ZBA holds public hearings, similar to those held by the City Council, for variance requests in order to take resident input. The City Council does not hold an additional public hearing however some residents feel they should have a forum to be heard by the City Council. Mr. Skinner stated that the ZBA is the only board that allows people to break rules. People come to them asking to deviate from existing ordinances. Precedents are set and laws are changed to accommodate them. He explained that everyone has a story, hardship, economic reason, etc. The ZBA looks at the story and has a "finding of facts ". They take things into consideration such as neighbors, safety, etc. before making a decision. The City Council doesn't usually hear these issues. He stated that the ZBA members take their jobs seriously so they grill applicants and investigate things. Chairman Baker stated that the finding of fact comes out of the Zoning Ordinance and he proceeded to go over the ordinance. He noted that the ZBA has a hard time understanding the ordinance but this is being addressed. The difficulty lies with some of the items being written in the positive while others are written in the negative. Items discussed were: • Authority • Application for Variance - the public hearing. Attorney Orr explained that there is no prohibition to asking questions during the ZBA public hearing; it is up to the chairman's discretion. Chairman Baker stated he likes to keep things open for both sides and likes to avoid conflict between the petitioner and others. • Standards for Variances — there are five standards such as a hardship caused by physical surroundings, unique conditions to a property, the detriment of a variance, etc. that are discussed by the ZBA before making a decision. Mr. Skinner explained that the members of the ZBA ask questions based on these five things and then the board is polled on these items before a vote. He also stated that the ZBA is in the process of rewriting these finding of facts. Attorney Orr noted that the state law needs to be reflected in these facts. Mr. Johnson added that the ZBA's decision is based on an argument not lobbying. Attorney Orr explained that the ZBA determines if a law should be bent or ignored and they have the authority to administer decisions without City Council input. • Authorized Variations — Listed as A- H — concerns setbacks, permitting use otherwise prohibited, parking, etc. The Minutes of the Special Meeting of the Citv Council — Sentember 22, 2009 — page 2 Alderman Spears noted that the City Council gets a copy of the minutes from ZBA meetings along with a memo from Anna Kurtz man. She questioned if the City Council would still get this information since Mrs. Kurtz man is no longer with the city. Director Miller explained that the City Council will continue to receive this information. There was discussion regarding City Council liaisons to other boards and the ZBA reporting to the Economic Development Committee. Director Miller stated that the ZBA makes recommendations to the City Council so it was determined not to proceed to EDC but to take the recommendations directly to a City Council meeting. Attorney Orr added that statutorily ZBA recommendations go to the City Council because there is no option for a vote by the EDC. The decision to skip the EDC meeting was made so that things wouldn't get waylaid. Chairman Baker stated that the ZBA was getting ready to have a liaison attend City Council meetings in order to report their findings since no one from the City Council attends their meetings. Mr. Skinner thought it might be better to not have a member of the City Council attend ZBA meetings. The group discussed having someone from the ZBA address issues with the City Council before they vote on a variance. Alderman Gilson supported hearing from the ZBA the meeting before the variance is to be approved. Ch airman_ Baker stated that he did not think the delay would be a problem with things like sheds, signs, etc. Mr. Skinner did not feel delaying the petition was right so he suggested that the City Council get the minutes of the ZBA meeting to review, and then prepare questions to be addressed with the ZBA liaison before a vote. The City Council could always table the variance if needed. Alderman Gilson questioned how this could be formatted because some City Council members complain about the length of City Council meetings. His concern was that if he had a lot of questions to ask, how would this affect meetings. Mayor Burd explained that the ZBA would hold the public hearing and then the ZBA liaison would attend the City Council meeting when the item was on the agenda for a vote. The City Council could then direct questions to the liaison if necessary. Alderman Spears questioned how soon after the ZBA meeting could the City Council get minutes and if they would be able to question the petitioners at the City Council meeting. There was discussion regarding the City Council getting the ZBA minutes as soon as possible so they have time to review them. Clerk Milschewski stated that she would have the minutes put in the City Council packets as soon as they are received from the minute taker. It was also clarified that they could direct questions to the petitioner. Mr. Walker, the newest member of the ZBA, stated that the process was confusing. He asked for clarification that the ZBA's decision would be presented as part of the City Council meeting and if this would allow the petitioner to go back through all the steps and ask the ZBA questions. It was discussed that the petitioner could not question members of the ZBA at this point. Mr. Walker was concerned that the process could be opened up again at the City Council. Mayor Burd explained that the petitioner usually makes a statement to the City Council but they couldn't question or challenge the ZBA or City Council. Attorney Orr added that the mayor /chairman should be able to handle the public. She stated that the ZBA does as the law mandates in order to advise the City Council of its decision. Alderman Teeling was concerned that the City Council will be directing questions to the ZBA and the petitioner may want to respond to the ZBA's answers and this could cause a problem. Alderman Gilson agreed with Mr. Walker that the process of the City Council asking the ZBA questions may open things up. He felt they should just rely on the minutes when making their decision on how to vote on a variance. He also felt the questioning process may be time consuming. Mr. Skinner suggested that a member of the ZBA give a report similar to those given by department heads. Chairman Baker asked the City Council to decide how they would like to handle the communications between the two groups to get back to the ZBA. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Burd entertained a motion to adjourn the meeting. So moved by Alderman Werderich; seconded by Alderman Gilson. Adjournment of the meetings was unanim ously approved by a viva voce vote. Meeting adjourned at 6:55 P.M. Minutes submitted by: Jacquely�schews City Clerk City of Yorkville, Illinois