Ordinance 95-3026 ORDINANCE NO. 95-3026
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI
BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING ZONING
ORDINANCE NO. 89-2665, AMENDING
SECTION 17, ENTITLED "PLANNING
BOARD" , AMENDING SUBSECTION 17-2,
ENTITLED "MEETINGS AND PROCEDURES"
BY REQUIRING REMOVAL OF BOARD
MEMBERS WHO HAVE EXCESSIVE ABSENCES
AND/OR EXCESSIVE ABSTENTIONS FROM
VOTING DUE TO CONFLICTS OF INTEREST;
PP.OVIDING FOR A REPEALER,
SEVERABILITY AND AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the amendment set forth herein is necessary in order
to insure that matters pending before the City' s Planning Board
need not be delayed due to lack of quorum and may be heard by a
full seven (7) member Board.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA:
SECTION 1 . AT-�3NDMENT OF SUBSECTION 17-2 .
That Subsection 17-2 of Section 17, entitled "Planning Board"
of City of Miami Beach Zoning Ordinance No. 9-2665 is hereby
amended as follows :
17-2 Meetings And Procedures
D. Ouorum and Voting
A quorum shall constitute four (4) regular members for any
matter that requires City Commission approval . A quorum of
five (5) regular members is required for Conditional Uses and
any matter that does not require City Commission approval . An
affirmative vote of four (4) regular members shall be required
to approve a request before the Board that requires City
Commission approval . An affirmative vote of five (5) regular
members shall be required to approve a Conditional Use request
or matter that does not require City Commission approval . If
an application is denied, the Board shall provide a written
statement in support of its finding.
E. Conflict of Interest
Members of the Board shall abide by the applicable provisions
of Fla. Statutes Ch. 112 (1987) , as amended; Metropolitan Dade
County, Fla. , Code Ch. 2 (1987) , and Code of the City of Miami
Beach Ch. 2, Art . III (1964) , regarding voting conflicts and
disclosures of financial interests .
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F. Removal of Board Members
In the event that any member of the Board fails to attend
three (3) regularly scheduled meetings or three (3) workshops
comprised of the entire Board within a period of one (1) year,
or abstains from voting on a matter before the Board due to a
conflict of interest on four (4) different applications within
a period of one year, said member shall cease to be a member
of the Board. For purposes of this Section an absence from a
meeting shall be defined as missing more than thirty percent
(30%) of the scheduled matters on that meeting ' s agenda. A
person who has ceased to be a member due to absences or
conflicts of interest shall not be reappointed to the Board
for a period of one year from the date of his/her removal .
SECTION 3 . REPEALER.
All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict herewith be
and the same are hereby repealed.
SECTION 4 . SEVERABILITY.
If any section, subsection, clause or provision of this
Ordinance is held invalid, the remainder shall not be affected by
such invalidity.
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SECTION 5 . EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Ordinance shall take effect on the 16th day of
December 1995 .
PASSED and ADOPTED this 6th day of, December , 1995 .
/ /
ATTEST:
MAYOR
/ CITY CLERK
1st reading 11/8/95
2nd reading 12/6/95
SWS:scf:6.Odisk9\planbdl7.ord
FORM APPROVED
Legal Dept.
By
Date suis to-3J- 9s
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH FLORIDA 33139
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM NO. 882-95
TO: Mayor Seymour Gelber and
Members of the City Commission DATE:
December 6, 1995
FROM: Jose Garcia-Pedrosa
City Manager
SUBJECT: Second Reading and Public Hearing - An Ordinance
Amending Zoning Ordinance No. 89-2665, by Amending
Section 17, Entitled ',Planning Board," Amending
Sub-Section 17-2, Entitled "Meetings and
Procedures" by Requiring Removal of Board Members
Who Have Excessive Absences or Abstentions from
Voting Due to Conflicts of Interest; Providing for
a Repealer, Severability and an Effective Date.
RECOMMENDATION
The Administration recommends that the City Commission adopt on
second reading the codification of absences and recusals for the
Planning Board within Zoning Ordinance No. 89-2665. On a related
matter, a companion ordinance regarding absences and recusals for
the Board of Adjustment is also being heard on second reading
today.
BACKGROUND
The Planning Board had requested staff to study the issue of adding
provisions regarding absences and recusals for the Board of
Adjustment and the Planning Board within the Zoning Ordinance and
to recommend amendment language accordingly.
In April 1994, the City adopted revised regulations regarding the
definition of an absence and removal procedures for the Design
Review Board (the quorum requirements were not changed) . The
attached amending ordinance was requested by the Planning Board in
order to make the removal of members for all City Boards more
consistent with this amendment throughout the Zoning Code. At the
present time, there are no regulations regarding removal of Board
members within the Zoning Ordinance for the Zoning Board of
PAGE 1 OF 3
AGENDA ITEM P .. `, G
DATE I 2-( -ci
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Adjustment or the Planning Board. The Legal Department drafted the
amendment.
The Planning Board held a public hearing on October 24, 1995 and
voted 6-0 (one abstention) to approve the amendment with additional
changes suggested by staff. At that public hearing, the Planning
Board recommended approval of the proposed amendment with the
following changes and additional language:
1. The number of recusals due to conflicts of interest
should be limited to a maximum of four (4) occurrences
(upon the 5th conflict of interest, the member would be
removed) within one calendar year; and,
2 . An absence should be defined as a member missing more
than thirty percent (30%) of the public hearings of that
meeting's agenda.
At the direction of the Planning Board, these changes have been
incorporated into the amendment, along with language that is
similar to the previously adopted changes to the Design Review
Board regulations.
On November 8, 1995 the City Commission approved the amending
ordinance on first reading with the above noted changes.
ANALYSIS
What follows is a section-by-section analysis of the proposed
amending ordinance.
Section 1.
This section of the proposed ordinance creates a new subsection 17-
2 .F, entitled "Removal of Board Members" within Subsection 17-2 of
the Zoning Ordinance which contains the regulations for meetings
and procedures of the Planning Board. Specifically the new
regulations would read as follows:
"In the event that any member of the Board fails to
attend three (3) regularly scheduled meetings or three
(3) workshops comprised of the entire Board within a
period of one (1) year, or abstains from voting on a
matter before the Board due to a conflict of interest on
five (5) different applications within a period of one
year, said member shall cease to be a member of the
Board. A person who has ceased to be a member of the
Board due to absences or conflicts of interest, shall not
be reappointed to the board for a period of one year from
the date of his\her removal. "
PAGE 2 OF 3
There are no other proposed changes. The last four (4) sections of
the amendment provide for inclusion in the Zoning Ordinance,
repealer, severability and an effective date.
The proposed new language is identical to the companion amendment
before you today for the Board of Adjustment. However, as you
know, the Planning Board consists of 7 voting members and the
quorum requirements are atypical from other Boards.
For the Planning Board, a quorum constitutes 4 regular members for
any matter that requires City Commission approval and 5 regular
members for Conditional Uses and any matter that does not require
Commission approval. An affirmative vote of 4 regular members is
required to approve requests before the Board that require City
Commission approval and 5 affirmative votes are required to approve
a Conditional Use request or any matter that does not require
Commission approval.
Partially due to these requirements above, the Planning Board has
not had problems in obtaining a quorum for matters before the Board
and has generally been able to efficiently review matters brought
before it in a timely manner.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, the Administration recommends that the City
Commission adopt on second reading the attached amendment regarding
absences and recusals for the Planning Board within Zoning
Ordinance No. 89-2665.
JGP/HSM
DJG\MHF\DISK#18\1240CM2.95
PAGE 3 OF 3
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