Ordinance 95-3025 ORDINANCE NO. 95-3025
AN ORDINANCE OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION
OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, AMENDING
ZONING ORDINANCE NO. 89-2665, AMENDING SECTION
16, ENTITLED "BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT" BY ADDITION
OF A NEW SUBSECTION 16-3, ENTITLED "REMOVAL, "
PROVIDING FOR REMOVAL OF BOARD MEMBERS WHO
HAVE EXCESSIVE ABSENCES AND/OR EXCESSIVE
ABSTENTIONS FROM VOTING DUE TO CONFLICTS OF
INTEREST; PROVIDING 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 Board of
Adjustment need not be delayed due to lack of quorum and may be
heard by a full five (5) member Board.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE MAYOR AND CITY
COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA:
SECTION 1 . ADDITION OF NEW SUBSECTION 16-3 .
That Section 16 , entitled "Board of Adjustment" of City of
Miami Beach Zoning Ordinance No. 89-2665 is hereby amended by
addition of a new Subsection 16-3 , to read as follows :
16-3 REMOVAL
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 (300) of the scheduled matters on
that meeting' s agenda. 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 .
SECTION 2 . RENUMBERING OF SECTION 16 .
That the existing Subsections 16-3 through 16-9 shall be
renumbered as Subsections 16-4 - 16-10 to allow for addition of the
new Subsection 16-3 set forth in Section 1 of this Ordinance .
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and the same are hereby repealed.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.
SECTION 5 . EFFECTIVE DATE.
This Ordinance shall take effect on the 16th day of
December , 1995 .
PASSED and ADOPTED this 6th day •f Decembe ll , 1995 .
ATTEST: A AIL OP 1/
• MAYOR
CITY CLERK
1st reading 11/8/95
2nd reading 12/6/95
SWS:scf:6.Odisk9\boa-remv.ord
FORM APPROVED
Legal Dept.
By .i�.D
Date /0-30 - 9s s@5
3
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CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
CITY HALL 1700 CONVENTION CENTER DRIVE MIAMI BEACH FLORIDA 33139
COMMISSION MEMORANDUM NO. Es1- 1 5
TO: Mayor Seymour Gelber and
Members of the City Commission DATE:
December 6, 1995
d
FROM: Jose Garcia-Pedrosa
City Manager •
SUBJECT: Second : ,ading and Public Hearing - An Ordinance
Amendin• Zoning Ordinance No. 89-2665, by Amending
Section 16, Entitled ',Board of Adjustment" by
Addition of a New Sub-Section 16-3, Entitled
',Removal', Providing for 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
(Zoning) Board of Adjustment within Zoning Ordinance No. 89-2665.
On a related matter, a companion ordinance regarding absences and
recusals for the Planning Board is also being considered 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
Adjustment or the Planning Board. The Legal Department drafted the
PAGE 1 OF 3
AGENDA ITEM R F
DATE (2 L 9 5
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:
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
entitled "Removal" within Section 16 of the Zoning Ordinance which
contains the regulations for the (Zoning) Board of Adjustment
(BOA) . 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. For purposes of this section an absence from a
meeting shall be defined as a member missing more than
thirty percent (30%) of the scheduled matters on that
meeting' s agenda. A person who has ceased to be a member
PAGE 2 OF 3
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. "
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.
Currently, there are 5 voting members on the BOA. In order for the
BOA to decide in favor of an applicant, on any matter before the
Board, a concurring vote of four (4) members is required. This
super majority requirement means that if one Board member abstains
from voting or is absent for whatever reason, the applicant must
receive a favorable vote from all of the remaining four members to
be successful in his or her request. From the applicant' s
perspective, this is not a favorable position. When a member is
absent, the applicant might be forced to defer to the next
regularly scheduled meeting in order to address a full Board. For
these reasons, the amendment before you today is seen as necessary
to help ensure that the Board may function in as an efficient and
timely manner as possible.
CONCLUSION
Based on the foregoing, the Administration recommends that the City
Commission adopt on second reading the attached amendment regarding
the codification of absences and recusals for the (Zoning) Board of
Adjustment within Zoning Ordinance No. 89-2665.
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PAGE 3 OF 3
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