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Home My WebLink AboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 7/6/2021 - FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE NO. 087, 2021 AMENDING Agenda Item 11 Item # 11 Page 1 AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY July 6, 2021 City Council STAFF Tammi Pusheck, Interim City Clerk Judy Schmidt, Legal SUBJECT First Reading of Ordinance No. 087, 2021 Amending the Code of the City of Fort Collins to Correct and Clarify an Inadvertent Change to the Appeal to the City Council of Final Decisions by the Building Review Commission and the Water Commission. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The purpose of this item is to provide Council with an opportunity to decide whether certain final decisi ons by the Building Review Commission and the Water Commission that were appealable to City Council prior to repeal and reenactment of Chapter 2, Article II, Division 3 of the City Code (the “Appeals Code”) should be reinstated. STAFF RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends adoption of the Ordinance on First Reading. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION On February 24, 2020, City Council adopted Ordinance No. 020, 2020 repealing and reenacting the Appeals Code, including Section 2-47 that now permits final decisions that are “expressly appealable to City Council under other provisions of [the Appeals Code]” to be decided by City Council”. Prior to the adoption of Ordinance No. 020, 2020, Section 2-47 included an enumerated list of specific decisions appealable to Council, in addition to other final decisions that are “expressly appealable” under other provisions of the City Code. That enumerated list, which was eliminated from Section 2 -47 in the reenacted Appeals Code, included appeals from the Building Review Commission and the Water Commission, although appeals from these two Commissions are not expressly authorized by other provisions of the City Code. The result was to eliminate a right to appeal the decisions of these two Commissions to City Council. The proposed Ordinance reinstates those appeal rights by amending applicable sections of the City Code to make them “expressly appealable. The Building Review Commission hears appeals and makes final decisions regarding the application of the International Building Codes adopted in Chapter 5 of the City Code and suspension and revocation of contractor licenses under Chapter 15 of the City Code. The Water Commission hears certain appeals from the Utilities Executive Director decisions regarding flood plain use permits an d makes decisions regarding flood plain variances. The decisions made by these two Commissions are highly technical. Although these decisions were previously appealable to City Council under City Code Section 2 -47 of the Appeals Code before the repeal and reenactment of changes in 2020, as a legal matter an appeal to City Council is not required. Council may choose as a policy matter to reinstate the appeal rights to City Council for these decisions by adopted the proposed Ordinance. Alternatively, Counci l could decline to adopt the proposed Ordinance and direct staff to bring back an ordinance clarifying that these decisions are final with no further right of appeal. If no appeal to Council is provided under City Code, such decisions could still be challenged in court by an unsatisfied party. -1- ORDINANCE NO. 087, 2021 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS TO CORRECT AND CLARIFY AN INADVERTENT CHANGE TO THE APPEAL TO THE CITY COUNCIL OF FINAL DECISIONS BY THE BUILDING REVIEW COMMISSION AND THE WATER COMMISSION WHEREAS, Chapter 2, Article II, Division 3 of the City Code (the “Appeals Code”) establishes a process whereby parties directly affected by the quasi-judicial decisions of City boards and commissions and certain other City decision makers may be appealed to the City Council; and WHEREAS, on February 24, 2020, City Council adopted Ordinance No. 020, 2020, repealing and reenacting the Appeals Code, including Section 2-47 that permits final decisions that are “expressly appealable to City Council under other provisions of [the Appeals Code]” to be decided by City Council; and WHEREAS, it has been determined that certain final decisions made by the Building Review Commission and the Water Commission were appealable to City Council under the prior provision of the Appeals Code, but with the change made to City Code Section 2 -47 are no longer clearly appealable because such decisions are not “expressly appealable to City Council under other provisions of the Appeals Code”; and WHEREAS, City Council desires to clarify and, to the extent necessary, reinstate the right to appeal final decisions of the Building Review Commission and Water Commission as set forth herein to Council. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That the City Council hereby makes any and all determinations and findings contained in the recitals set forth above. Section 2. That Article I, Chapter 5 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended by the addition of a new Section 5.3 to read as follows: Sec. 5-3. - Certain appeals to be taken to city council. A final decision of the Building Review Commission regarding application of the International Codes adopted in this Chapter 5 of the City Code may be appealed to City Council under Chapter 2, Article II, Division 3 of the City Code. Section 3. That Section 15-156 of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: -2- Sec. 15-156. - Duties of Building Review Board; Appeal. (a) The Building Review Board shall have the duties and perform the functions as set forth in § 2 -119 of the Code, which duties and functions include, without limitation, hearing all matters related to the suspension or revocation of any supervisor certificate or license or registration of any plumber or electrician as provided in the Code. The Building Review Board is authorized, upon appeal in specific cases, to grant variances from the terms of this Article, where the strict application of any pr ovision of this Article would result in peculiar or exceptional practical difficulties to or exceptional or undue hardship upon the person or applicant regulated; or, when such applicant can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Board that the applicant p ossesses other qualifications not specifically listed in this Article, such as specialized training, education or additional experience, which the Board has determined qualifies the applicant to perform in a competent manner any construction authorized under the license or certificate sought, and provided that such relief may be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without substantially impairing the intent and purposes of this Article. (b) A final decision of the Building Review Co mmission regarding suspension or revocation of a license under this section may be appealed to City Council under Chapter 2, Article II, Division 3 of the City Code. Section 4. That Section 10-28(a) of the Code of the City of Fort Collins is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 10-28. - Appeals/variance procedure. (a) The Water Board, as established in § 2 -436, shall hear and decide appeals from decisions of the Utilities Executive Director and requests for variances from the requirements of this Artic le. Any final decision of the Board may be subject to review by the appealed to City Council under Chapter 2, Article II, Division 3 of the City Code . -3- Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 6th day of July, A.D. 2021, and to be presented for final passage on the 20th day of July, A.D. 2021. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _____________________________ City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading on this 20th day of July, A.D. 2021. __________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _____________________________ City Clerk