BL 2014-10-01 BOA
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BY-LAWS
Table of Contents
Topic Page
I. History 2
II. The Board 2
III. Meetings 3
IV. Officers 4
V. Chairman and Duties 4
VI. General Rules 4
VII. Powers of the Board 6
VIII. Appeals to the Board 6
IX. Enforcement of Decorum 7
X. Enforcement 7
XI. Cameras and Lighting 7
XII. Conflict of Interest 8
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BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT BYLAWS
I.History
A.Section 8.01 of the City Charter of the City of Coppell states that the City Council
shall create, establish or appoint, as may be required by the laws of the State of Texas
or this charter, such boards, commissions and committees as it deems necessary to
carry out the functions and obligations of the city. The City Council shall, by
ordinance, prescribe the purpose, composition, functions, duties, and accountability
and tenure of each board, commission and committee.
B.Section 8.03D of the City Charter of the City of Coppell states that the City Council
shall appoint a Zoning Board of Adjustment of members who shall serve in
accordance with Local Government Code Chapter 211.088 V.T.C.A.
C.Chapter 211.088, Local Government Code states that such local legislative body may
provide for the appointment of a Board of Adjustment, and may provide that the said
Board of Adjustment may, in appropriate cases and subject to appropriate conditions
and safeguards, make special exceptions to the terms of the zoning ordinance in
harmony with its general purpose and intent and in accordance with general or
specific rules therein contained.
II.The Board
A.The Coppell Board of Adjustment shall be comprised of five (5) members and four
(4) alternate members to be appointed by the City Council. Members shall be a
resident of the City of Coppell for at least twelve (12) months preceding the date of
appointment, be knowledgeable in the affairs of the City, be knowledgeable in the
rules of the Board of Adjustment and its functions and activities provided for in the
Charter and shall be a qualified voter in the City of Coppell, Texas. (Article 8,
Section 8.02, City Charter)
B.Members of the Board shall be appointed for two (2) year terms with three (3)
members’ terms expiring in even numbered years and two (2) members’ terms
expiring in odd numbered years.
In addition, the Council shall appoint four (4) alternate members to act as members of
the Board of Adjustment in the absence of one or more of the regular members. The
four (4) alternate members shall serve two-year terms. Their terms in office shall be
staggered so that two (2) members are appointed each year. (Section 8.03D, City
Charter)
C.Any vacancy created on the Board shall be filled by majority vote of the City Council
for the remainder of the unexpired term within thirty (30) days after the vacancy
occurs.
D.The members of the Board shall serve without pay or compensation; provided,
however, that they shall be entitled to reimbursement of and for necessary expenses
incurred in the performance of their duties, when approved by City Council.
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III.Meetings
A.The Board of Adjustment shall meet on the first Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m.
unless otherwise officially changed by the Chairman. In the event the first Thursday
falls on a legal holiday, the new meeting date will be established by the Chairman.
B.When possible, the Board of Adjustment shall meet in the Council Chambers at City
Hall.
C.The Board shall hold such special meeting as shall be called by the Chairman, or
upon written request of at least one (1) member of the Board or at the request of the
City Council.
D.All cases to be heard by the Board of Adjustment will always be heard by a minimum
number of four (4) members.
E.All meeting of the Board shall be open to the public subject to both current and any
future laws of the State of Texas.
F.If a quorum cannot be established for a meeting, that meeting shall be cancelled. The
cases for that meeting shall be rescheduled for the next regularly scheduled meeting.
The time and date of such meeting shall be determined by the Chairman. If there are
only four (4) board members present at a meeting and a board member cannot vote on
a case (due to abstention, leaving a meeting early, etc) prior to hearing that case, the
Board may continue it so that action may be taken at a further date. (If a case is
continued for a specific time and date, no further notification will be necessary.)
G.If there are no requests before the Board, that meeting may be cancelled by the
Chairman. Staff shall contact the Chairman and Board prior to the meeting so that a
consensus may be reached.
H.If, for any reason, a scheduled Board meeting is not to be held, staff shall notify all
participants and Board members of such cancellation at the earliest possible
opportunity.
I.The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member
upon each question, or, if absent of failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep
records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be
immediately filed in the office of the Board and shall be a public record. (Chapter
211.008, Local Government Code)
If no meeting or proceedings were held in any month, the Board shall so report this
fact to the City Council.
J.If a Regular board member is absent for three (3) consecutive regularly scheduled
meeting, or 25% of the regularly scheduled meetings within a 12-month period, said
member shall be removed from the Board, and the City Council will fill the unexpired
term. (Article 8, Section 8.04, City Charter and Article 1011g, Vernon’s Annotated
Civil Statues.)
K.In addition to the official minutes of each board meeting, the board secretary shall
make an audio recording of the proceedings. These audio recordings shall be kept as
long as administratively valuable, but not less than a period of thirty-six (36) months
from the date of the meeting.
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IV.Officers
A.The Board shall, on the first meeting of the year, from its membership, elect a
Chairman and a Vice Chairman for one (1) year term of office, or until their
successors are elected.
B.The Chairman and Vice Chairman may hold office for two (2) terms, after which one
(1) term must elapse before being eligible for re-election.
C.In the event of a vacancy in the office of the chairman, the Vice Chairman shall
assume the duties of the Chairman until the next regular meeting of the board, at
which time, the board shall elect a new Chairman.
V.Chairman and Duties
A.Chairman. The Chairman shall preside at all meeting of the Board. In the absence of
the Chairman, the Vice Chairman shall preside. In the absence of both the Chairman
and Vice Chairman, the Board shall elect a Chairman Pro-Tem.
B.Call to Order. The meetings of the Board shall be called to order by the Chairman, or
in his or her absence, by the Vice Chairman. In the absence of both the Chairman and
Vice Chairman, the meeting shall be called to order by any board member or
alternate.
C.Preservation of Order. The Chairman shall preserve order and decorum, prevent
personal attacks on the Board members or the impugning of members’ motives, and
confine members in debate to the question under decision.
D.Points of Order. The Chairman shall determine all point of order, subject to the right
of any member to appeal to the Board. If any appeal is taken, the question is whether
the Chairman is to be “sustained”.
E.Questions to be Stated. The Chairman shall state all questions submitted for a vote
and whether the motion is passed or defeated. Provided, however, that the
announcement of passed or defeated shall not affect the validity of the vote if such
announcement is not correct.
VI.General Rules
A.Questions Subject to Division. If two or more subjects are involved, in any vote of
the Board, any member of the Board may require a division, if the question
reasonably allows a division.
B.Right of Floor. Any members of the Board desiring to speak shall be recognized by
the Chairman, and shall confine his or her remarks to the subject or question under
consideration or to be considered.
C.City Attorney. At the request of the Board, the City Attorney may attend meetings to
render an opinion of questions of law.
D.Suspension of Rules. Any provision of these rules not covered by the City Charter or
laws of the State of Texas may be temporarily suspended by concurring vote of four
(4) members of the Board. The vote on any such suspension shall be by roll call
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called by the Secretary, or the person serving as the Secretary, shall be recorded in the
minutes of the meeting.
E.Amendment to the Rules. These rules may be amended, or new rules adopted by a
concurring vote of four (4) members of the Board, provided that the proposed
amendments or new rules have been introduced into the record at the last regular
board meeting.
F.Votes Required to Pass. The concurring vote of four (4) members of the Board shall
be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of any such
administrative official, or to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter upon
which it is required to pass under any such ordinance or to effect any variation to such
ordinance.
G.Abstention. Should any member of the Board of Adjustment choose to abstain from
voting on any question before the Board of Adjustment, where no declared conflict of
interest exists, the abstention shall be recorded as an affirmative vote in the favor of
the motion pending before the Board of Adjustment in the official minutes of the City
of Coppell’s Board of Adjustment.
H.Notification of Meetings. Staff shall contact every regular Board member before
noon one day prior to any scheduled meeting so that a quorum may be established for
the upcoming meeting. If a regular board member is unable to attend the upcoming
meeting, he or she will notify staff at this time. In the event that there are not enough
board members to establish a quorum, staff shall then notify the alternate members so
that a quorum may be established. Staff shall contact the alternate members on a
rotating schedule in order to evenly afford the opportunity for attendance.
Packets shall be made available to the Board members the Friday prior to the
Thursday meeting.
I.General Public. Public notice of a meeting shall be posted as per the current or any
future laws of the State of Texas.
J.Property Owners. Written notice of all public hearing shall be sent to owners of real
property located within two hundred feet (200’) of the property on which the variance
is requested, such notice to be given not less than ten (10) days before the date set for
hearing, to all such owners who have rendered their said property for city taxes as the
ownership appears on the last approved city tax roll. Such notice may be served by
depositing the same, properly addressed and postage paid, in the official publication
of the City stating the time and place of such meeting.
K.Continuing Public Hearings. If the applicant of his designated representative is not
present at the Board of Adjustment meeting, the case will be continued to the next
regularly scheduled meeting, or denied without prejudice to refiling. If the case has
been continued once with the agent or his representative is not present at the second
meeting, the case will be denied with prejudice.
L.Issuance of Permits Prior to Public Hearing. Staff shall not issue any permits
(building, foundation, etc.) for any structure prior to the case being heard by the
Zoning Board of Adjustment.
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M.Evidence. All evidence intended to be presented electronically must be provided to
the staff seven business days before the hearing and special requests for equipment
that need to be used during the hearing must be requested in writing seven (7)
business days prior to the hearing.
VII.Powers of the Board
The Board of Adjustment shall have the following powers:
1.To hear and decide an appeal that alleges error in an order, requirement, decision, or
determination made by an administrative official in the enforcement of the City
Zoning Ordinance.
2.To hear and decide special exceptions to the terms of the City Zoning Ordinance upon
which such board is required to pass under such ordinances.
3.To authorize in specific cases such variance from the terms of the City Zoning
Ordinance as will not be contrary to public interest, where, owing to special
conditions, a literal enforcement of the provisions of the ordinance will result in
unnecessary hardship and so that the spirit of the ordinance shall be observed and
substantial justice done.
4.To hear and decide appeals, special exceptions, or granting of variances to ordinance,
other than the City zoning ordinances, when such authority is specifically granted in
such ordinances.
In exercising the above-mentioned powers, such Board may, in conformity with the
provisions of Chapter 211, Local Government Code, revers or affirm, wholly or
partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed
from and make such order, requirement, decision, or determination as ought to be
made and to the end shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is
taken.
VIII.Appeals to the Board
A.Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by any person aggrieved or by any
officer, department, board, or bureau of the municipality affected by any decision of
the administrative officer. Such appeal shall be taken within a reasonable time, as
provided by the rules of the Board, by filing with the officer from whom the appeal is
taken and with the Board of Adjustment a notice of appeal specifying the grounds
thereof. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the
Board all paper constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was
taken.
1.When hearing such an appeal, the board’s duty and power is to determine
whether or not the decision of such officer, department, board or bureau is
correct pursuant to the ordinance of the city, and the city shall not have the
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power to alter the decision appealed from which is correct pursuant to the
ordinance of the city, and the city shall not have the power to alter the
decision appealed from which is correct under the ordinance of the city, unless
that ordinance specifically authorizes the board to grant a variance or
exception of the ordinance.
B.An appeal stays all proceeding in furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the
officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the Board of Adjustment after the
notice of appeal shall have been filed with him that by reason of faces stated in the
certificate, a stay would, in his opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. In
such cases, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order
which may be granted by the Board of Adjustment or by a court of record on
application on notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause
shown.
C.Any person or persons, jointly or severally, aggrieved by any decision of the Board of
Adjustment, or any taxpayer, or any officer, department, board or bureau of the
municipality, may present to a court of record a petition, duly verified, setting forth
that such decision is illegal, in whole or in part, specifying the grounds of the
illegality. Such petition shall be presented to the court within ten (10) days after the
filing of the decision in the office of the board.
IX.Enforcement of Decorum
A.Warning. All persons (other than members of the Board) shall, at the request of the
Chairman, be silent. If after receiving a warning from the Chairman, a person or
group of persons, persists in the disturbing the meeting, the Chairman or the person
acting as Chairman, may order that the person or group of persons to remove himself
or themselves from the meeting, the Chairman or person acting as Chairman may
order the Sergeant-at Arms to remove him or them.
B.Removal from a Meeting. The Chief of Police, or such member or members of the
Police Department as the Chairman of the person acting as or for the Chairman may
designate, shall be Sergeant-at-Arms of the board meetings. He or they shall carry
out all orders or instructions given by the Chairman for the purpose of maintaining
order and decorum at the meeting of the Board. Upon instruction of the Chairman, it
shall be the duty of the Sergeant-at-Arms to remove from the meeting any person or
persons who intentionally disturb the proceedings of the Board.
C.Speakers. Speakers shall be given three minutes to speak in favor or against the
issue. Each side, in favor or against, shall have a total of thirty minutes to speak
therefore, the entire public comments shall be no longer than one hour for each case.
Speakers and the three minute rule shall not include or apply to Board Members, City
Employees, the Chief Building Official, and the City Attorney. The purpose is to
organize the hearing and evidence process.
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X.Enforcement
A.Motion to Enforce. Any member of the Board may move to require the Chairman to
enforce these rules and the affirmative vote of four (4) members of the board shall
require the Chairman to do so.
XI.Cameras and Lighting
A.Supplemental Lighting. Supplemental lighting for television and motion picture
cameras shall be used only the exercise or extreme discretion with regard to the
intensity and duration of such lighting and with a view to creating the least amount of
interference with or disturbance of the proceedings of the board and the least amount
of discomfort to the members of the public in attendance.
B.Disruptive Lighting. The Chairman or the person acting as Chairman shall have the
authority to determine whether the intensity and/or duration of supplemental lighting
is such that is disturbs the proceedings of the Board and upon making such a
determination require that the use of such lighting be discontinued.
XII.Conflict of Interest
Members of the Board shall not vote on matters which involve rulings concerning a
business or real property that the Board member or a person related to the Board
member by the first degree of the affinity or consanguinity has substantial interest in.
Substantial interest shall be determined by the current wording of Chapter 171 of the
Local Government Code. The current act states that a person has a substantial
interest in a business or real property if:
1.The interest is ownership of ten percent or more of the voting stock or shares
of the business entity or ownership of ten percent or more or $5,000 or more
of the fair market value of the business entity; or
2.Funds received by the person from the business entity exceed ten percent of
the person’s gross income for the previous year; or
3.The person has substantial interest in real property if the interest is an
equitable or legal ownership with a fair market value of $2,500 or more. This
would include a member owning property within 200 feet of the subject
property.
If a board member or person related to a board member as mentioned above has a
substantial interest in a business entity or real property that would be affected by an
official action taken by the board, the board member, before a vote or decision on the
matter, shall file an affidavit stating the nature and extent of the interest and shall abstain
from further participation in the matter as required by Chapter 171.004, Local
Government Code. The affidavit must be filed with the City Secretary and is attached to
this document as Exhibit “A”.
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The chart below is a list to determine whether or not a person is related in the first degree
by either affinity or consanguinity to another person.
CONSANGUINITY- FIRST DEGREE
Father
Mother
Brother
Sister
Son
Daughter
AFFINITY
Any person related by marriage to one of the above will fall within the affinity rule.
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