(a) Membership.
(1) Members. The Design Review Commission shall consist of five (5) members who shall be nominated by the Mayor and appointed by City Council.
(2) Alternates. Upon nomination by the Mayor, City Council may appoint an additional two (2) alternate members to the Design Review Commission who shall serve in the absence of a member of the Commission (in the order of appointment) with all rights of a member of the Commission.
(3) Qualifications. (A) Each member and alternate member shall have, to the highest extent possible, a recognized knowledge of, and a known interest in architectural preservation and design and a determination to work for the overall improvement of the quality of the physical environment of the City. The members of the Design Review Commission shall at all times consist of:
A. One (1) City merchant who operates a business in the Design Review Overlay District;
B. One (1) individual who owns property in the Design Review Overlay District;
C. One (1) member of the Rossford Business Association;
D. One (1) City resident who neither owns, leases or operates a business or property in the Design Review Overlay District; and
E. One (1) representative from any of the following organizations: the American Institute of Architects; the Arts Commission of Greater Toledo; the Landmarks Committee of the Maumee Valley Historical Society; the Rossford Planning Commission; or the City Administrator or his staff designee.
F. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary hereinbefore set forth, the Design Review Commission shall at all times have three (3) Members who are residents of the City of Rossford.
(b) Term of Office. Appointments to the Design Review Commission shall be for four (4) year terms. Initial appointments to the Commission shall be adjusted so that not more than two (2) terms on the Commission expire in any one (1) year. The terms of the first Commission members shall terminate on the 31st of December which follows the first day of the last year of their appointment. Thereafter, the term of Commission members shall be deemed to commence on January 1st of each applicable term.
(c) Removal from Office. All Design Review Commission members and alternates may be removed for cause by City Council.
(d) Vacancies. Vacancies shall be filled for the duration of an unexpired term in the same manner as the original appointment.
(e) Compensation of Members. All members of the Design Review Commission shall serve without compensation.
(f) Officers. The Design Review Commission shall elect a Chairperson and a Vice- Chairperson at its initial meeting and thereafter at the first meeting after January 31 of each year. The Commission may also create and elect a member to a position of Second Vice-Chairperson.
(1) Duties of the Chairperson. The Chairperson shall conduct the meetings of the Design Review Commission according to established rules of procedure, determine the order of meeting agendas, administer oaths to each person offering testimony for consideration of such Commission, and sign any certificates or documents as ordered by a vote of such Commission.
(2) Duties of the Vice-Chairperson. The Vice-Chairperson (or Second Vice- Chairperson, if applicable and in the absence of the Vice-Chairperson and Chairperson) shall perform the duties of the Chairperson in the event of the Chairperson’s absence.
(g) Staffing. All City employees and agencies shall cooperate in expediting the purposes of this Ordinance and the functions of the Design Review Commission.
(1) The City Administrator shall designate a staff person from the City administration to serve as a Secretary for the Design Review Commission. Such person shall keep all minutes of the meetings, tape recording any administrative hearing held by the Commission, keeping the calendar of meetings and events pertaining to such Commission, keeping each member apprised of meeting times, dates and agendas, and shall be responsible for distribution of a copy of documents, drawings, and other papers for each item of business which comes before the such Commission, maintenance of records, and communication of all correspondence to and on behalf of such Commission, and preparation of Certificates of Appropriateness to be used by the Commission.
(2) The Zoning Inspector shall receive and process all applications for Certificates of Appropriateness to the Design Review Commission. The Zoning Inspector shall ensure that any application for a Zoning Permit, where a Certificate of Appropriateness is also required, shall first receive a Certificate of Appropriateness from the Design Review Commission prior to Zoning Permit application review. The Zoning Inspector shall enforce all approvals issued by vote of the Commission by including any conditions required by a Certificate of Appropriateness as part of the conditions of a subsequent Zoning Permit.
(3) The administrative offices of the City shall serve as the repository of the official files of the Design Review Commission, which shall be maintained for the Commission by the City Administrator. The City Administrator shall also be responsible for making such files available to the public to serve as a basis for prospective applicants to conform their plans with established policy, for the public to review applications for pending hearings, or as otherwise directed by law.
(4) The City shall maintain a library of preservation resources to be used by Design Review Commission members for the purpose of increasing their knowledge of architectural preservation and design. These resources will also be made available to owners of a Locally Significant Resource in the City on a lending library basis with reasonable return due dates.
(h) Meetings. All meetings of the Design Review Commission shall be open to the public and the conduct of such meetings shall be subject to Ohio Sunshine laws, including providing advance public notice of meetings to any person, business, or organization that provides an annual written request for same.
(1) Procedures. The Commission shall adopt rules and regulations consistent with this Ordinance governing its procedures and transactions.
(2) Location. All Commission meetings shall be held at the Municipal Building or other public place.
(3) Frequency. Meetings shall be held at least once each month when there are applications for Certificates of Appropriateness to be considered and not less than once every three (3) months for such other related work as may be accepted through request of Council, the Planning Commission or undertaken on its own motion. Special meetings may be held at the call of the Chairperson.
(4) Quorum. If no alternate members of the Design Review Commission have been appointed by Council, a simple majority of the members shall be a quorum for the transaction of business. Otherwise, the quorum requirement shall be four (4) members.
(5) Voting. Any actions or decisions of the Design Review Commission shall have the support of a simple majority of the members in attendance at the time of the vote.
A. To avoid conflicts of interest, Commission members shall not vote on cases in which they have economic interests.
B. Members who do not approve or concur with the outcome of a vote have the right to state, as part of the minutes, their reasons for refusing to approve or concur.
(6) Minutes. Written meeting minutes of the findings and the results of Design Review Commission decisions shall be available for public inspection. The minutes of meetings shall be maintained for a period of seven (7) years.
(Ord. 2008-06. Passed 4-14-08.)