A. There is hereby created and established an appeals and variance hearing officer of Draper City to provide for just and fair treatment in the administration of the city’s zoning ordinances, in accordance with provisions of the Utah municipal land use development and management act, set forth at Utah Code Annotated 10-9a-101 et seq., as amended. The appeals and variance hearing officer shall have such powers and duties as set forth below.
B. Appointment: The Appeals and Variance Hearing Officer shall be appointed as follows:
1. The Appeals and Variance Hearing Officer shall be appointed by the Mayor with the advice and consent of the City Council.
2. The Appeals and Variance Hearing Officer shall be appointed for a term of one year and thereafter may be appointed for succeeding one year terms.
3. The Appeals and Variance Hearing Officer shall, as a minimum, have such training and experience as will qualify them to conduct administrative or quasi-judicial hearings regarding land use, land development, and regulatory codes dealing with issues related to land use.
4. The Mayor may remove the Appeals and Variance Hearing Officer for cause upon receipt of written charges filed against the appeals and variance hearing officer with the city manager and upon the advice and consent of the city council. The mayor shall provide the appeals and variance hearing officer with a public hearing if one is requested.
5. In the case of death, resignation, removal or disqualification, the position of appeals and variance hearing officer shall be promptly filled by a replacement appointed by the mayor with the advice and consent of the city council for the unexpired term of the previous appeals and variance hearing officer.
6. The appeals and variance hearing officer shall be considered an independent contractor; and as such will enter into a year long contract for services at the beginning of each appointed term. Terms for compensation and reimbursement will be determined and agreed upon in the aforementioned contract. The terms and conditions of the contract shall ultimately be approved by the city council prior to any individual entering into an agreement with the city to serve as the appeals and variance hearing officer.
7. The mayor may, from time to time, appoint an appeals and variance hearing officer pro tempore on a temporary basis when necessitated by the absence, unavailability, incapacity or disqualification of the regularly appointed appeals and variance hearing officer upon the advice and consent of the city council. Each appeals and variance hearing officer pro tempore shall, as a minimum, have qualifications which are similar to the regularly appointed appeals and variance hearing officer.
C. Organization And Procedure: The appeals and variance hearing officer shall organize and exercise its powers and duties as follows:
1. The appeals and variance hearing officer may adopt reasonable policies and procedures in accordance with city ordinances to govern the conduct of its meetings and hearings and for any other purposes considered necessary for the functioning of the position of appeals and variance hearing officer. Such policies and procedures shall be approved by the city council before taking effect.
2. The appeals and variance hearing officer shall hold meetings as needed to consider matters within its purview under this title. The appeals and variance hearing officer meetings shall be held on the first Wednesday after the first Tuesday of each month and such other times deemed necessary by the appeals and variance hearing officer. All meetings and hearings shall be properly noticed and held in accordance with the open meetings law set forth in Utah Code Annotated section 52-4-1 et seq., as amended. Written minutes of all meetings and hearings of the appeals and variance hearing officer shall be prepared and filed in the office of the city recorder for review and access by the public in accordance with the Draper City government records access and management ordinance.
3. Decisions made by the appeals and variance hearing officer shall become effective at the meeting or hearing in which the decision is made, unless a different time is designated in the appeals and variance hearing officer's accepted rules or at the time the decision is made.
D. Powers And Duties: The powers and duties of the appeals and variance hearing officer shall be limited to the matters set forth below. Each of such powers and duties shall be exercised pursuant to the procedural and other provisions of this title:
1. Subject to the provisions of this chapter, hear and decide appeals from zoning decisions of the planning commission or zoning administrator applying the provisions of this title.
2. Hear and decide variances from the terms of this title.
3. Hear and decide appeals from decisions made by the zoning administrator regarding chapter 6 of this title.
E. Appeals: Appeals to the appeals and variance hearing officer shall be filed in writing with the zoning administrator within fourteen (14) days from the date of the decision or action appealed as provided in subsection 9-5-180D1 of this title. The officer or department from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the appeals and variance hearing officer all papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken.
F. Notice Of Hearing: The appeals and variance hearing officer shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of each appeal, give public notice thereof as well as due notice to the parties in interest, at least ten (10) days prior to the hearing and shall set certain other criteria as to the form of notice whether by publication, certified mail or other criteria, reasonably designed to give notice to those parties subject to be affected thereby.
G. Decisions Of The Appeals And Variance Hearing Officer: At the hearing of any matter, the parties affected may appear in person with or without an attorney. The appeals and variance hearing officer shall decide all appeals and other issues brought before it within a reasonable time.
H. Stay Of Proceedings: An appeal to the appeals and variance hearing officer shall not stay proceedings taken in furtherance of the action appealed from unless such proceedings are specifically stayed by order of the zoning administrator. An appellant may request a stay by submitting to the zoning administrator, in writing, an application for a stay setting forth the reasons why a stay is necessary to protect against imminent harm. In determining whether or not to grant a stay, the zoning administrator shall assure that all potentially affected parties are given the opportunity to comment on the request. A ruling on the request for a stay shall be given within five (5) days from the date the request is received by the zoning administrator. The zoning administrator, in granting a stay, may impose additional conditions to mitigate any potential harm that may be caused by the stay, including requiring the appellant to post a bond. Within ten (10) days of the zoning administrator's decision regarding the grant or denial of a stay, any adversely affected party may appeal the decision to the appeals and variance hearing officer, whose decision will be final.
I. Appeals From The Appeals And Variance Hearing Officer: A land use applicant or adversely affected party may file a petition for review of a final decision of the appeals and variance hearing officer and may have and maintain a plenary action for relief therefrom in any court of competent jurisdiction; provided, that the petition for such relief is presented to the court within thirty (30) days from the date of the decision of the appeals and variance hearing officer. (Ord. 1199, 5-17-2016; amd. Ord. 1408, 10-15-2019; Ord. 1493, 6-15-2021; Ord. 1498, 8-3-2021)