Module SP3: First Zoning Board of Appeals Meeting
This module covers what you need to know before your first Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. Zoning Boards of Appeals are often called upon to make important decisions to guide the growth and development of their communities. Issues surrounding land use planning and regulation, and the tools and techniques available within Michigan to address them, have become increasingly complex. Learn the basics of what you need before your first meeting. Register Online Now!
There are five units in this series.
Introducing the Planning Official
This unit is a short introduction to your role as a planning official or commissioner. It will introduce you to your duties and responsibilities as a planning official as well as the groups with which you will be working.
Planning Official Ethics 101
In this unit, we will introduce why ethics are a concern of any public official. We look at how ethics governs planning official’s duties and actions. By the end of this unit, you will have a basic understanding of ethical responsibilities when dealing with conflicts of interest.
Basic Legal Framework for Planning Officials
This unit introduces the laws that give planning officials the powers to perform their duties. It also introduces the sources and types of law that planning officials should know in order to understand the legal basis for planning and zoning.
Zoning 101: How Does Zoning Work?
Before jumping into zoning procedures, it is necessary that you know the basics of zoning, what zoning tools are available, and how they can be used to their best advantage. This unit introduces zoning from the vantage point of how its operation is similar to our federal government. With legislative, administrative, and quasi-judicial functions, they provide a check and balance for each other. This unit will also look at the roles different bodies and people perform.
Appeals, Variances, & Interpretations
What happens if the zoning ordinance has requirements that cannot be fulfilled on a particular property? What happens if the zoning ordinance is ambiguous or unclear as it applies to specific circumstances? How should landowners in your community go about seeking relief from the ordinance requirements when those requirements prevent a reasonable use of land? In this unit, we will consider appeals, variances, and interpretations. The perspective of this presentation should benefit members of the Zoning Board of Appeals, those wishing to bring their issues to the ZBA, and anyone else involved in the zoning process.
