You sure could be right, Liz. I know zip about ZBA's statutory mission
and I would actually expect a person in your profession to know more
than me.
But I'd appreciate a citation or two, if you can find them, before I
kowtow to your wide experience and never get up from the floor again.
My own take on commonsense is ZBA was formed to balance the
constitutional rights of property-owners with the constitutional rights
of ... other property-owners. Maybe a lot of University Citizens don't
want to hear this, but most property regulations are about protecting
property-owners from property-owners. Don't shoot the piano-player! He's
only playing the tune he hears everyone around him singing.
Obviously citizens have a right to expect ZBA follows the law, as
largely understood. But the legal devil is always in the details. That's
why, when real money is on the line, you may want to retain Paul or Matt
or Karen or Bob to represent your case, rather than me. (I'll be a lot
cheaper, though! But I require cash in advance for all legal work, and I
reserve the right not to show up in court.)
If I went before ZBA to seek a variance, as a property-owning citizen,
I'd want to face a government body that would hear my case neutrally and
not with a built-in bias toward my neighbors. Suppose I seek a zoning
variance to enclose my porch because I want to use that space to fight
AIDS on. But my neighbors are all opposed to my variance application
because I am a short guy and they hate short guys. I would like a
government body that was committed to neutrality between applicant and
community.
If you think I'm just cracking a silly joke, I'll tell you the story of
what I witnessed at the South Broad Street Neighbors Association's
Zoning Committee meeting ... off list. It's a wonderful story but it
really is no business of UC-list.
-- Tony West
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I would argue that a ZBA's obligation is not neutrality, but to define
and protect the interests of the citizens and to prevent incompatable
or overly aggressive uses. At the social extreme this might mean
keeping bars and strip clubs away from school and churches, and at the
health extremes limiting industrial plants downstream and down wind of
most of the city. For practical reasons and to reduce boundary
disputes, it also requires setbacks so that solving problems or doing
maintainance at one property do not require trespass upon neighboring
properties.
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