CHC 1979-03-06 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• authority to make it. And if I am that person , you know, I kind of like to want to be put in the position to say, I want to know why. And- if. I think, you are .arbitrary, then I want to have a board that is going to say that you are arbitrary and I want to be able to prove it. Generally., the Planning Commission would not provide_ that function. They look at purely only. the merits and Ithink_ that to provide some of the human naure checks, to retain the concept of the. Board of Appeals , I think would be helpful. I think it would be healthy. MR. ISHIDA: What would the Board of Appeals do then in that conte6;t? MR. FUKE: This is where it is kind of unclear. All the Board of Appeals says is that an appeal shall be sustained. If a guy applies for a variance, or if I tell a guy 20 ft. as opposed to zero ft. and the board looks at the matterand says , hey, Sidney, you are wrong. What does that, you are wrong, mean? Does it mean that, fine, the guy can build where he wants to build, in spite of my action. Or, like in the situation where if the Planning Commission denies a variance and if the 'Board of Appeals agrees with the appellant; does that mean that the variance is automatically granted? Then that is a great error because according to the charter, only the Planning Commission can grant exception from the law. Notthe Board of Appeals.. We ran into this kind of circular argument with our corporation counsel then and I think if you make it clear that under this situation that if a guy appeals to the Board of Appeals then the Board of Appeals , in a sense, can function like the Planning Commission and maybe grant the variance. Ox`, if they find that the Planning Commission had made a decisionbased upon lack of findings ' or whatever, can remand the application. But these alter- natives are not spelled out in the charter and let alone in our rules and regulations. As I indicated earlier, Mr. Ishi'da, that in the beginning I thought that maybe we could dismiss with the functions of the Board of Appeals. But the more I thought about it and true it meets only two or three times a year, but the two or three times a year might be just the kind of healthy safety valve that we need to, assure and restore a greater credibility in government. MR. ISHIDA: The way' the procedure is set up right now there are certain instances where the Planning Director makes his decision whereupon you can go direct to the Board of Appeals and there are certain decIsAIons that the commission makes which you could then go to the Board of Appeals. Is that correct? MR. FUKE: That is right:' - 17 -