HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 12/24/2024 - Memorandum from Kim Meyer re December 10, 2024, Work Session Summary: Appeals Procedure – Draft CodeCommunity Development and Neighborhood
Services Department
281 N. College Ave., Fort Collins, CO 80524
PO Box 580, Fort Collins, CO 80522
WORK SESSION MEMORANDUM
Date: December 19, 2024
To: Mayor and City Councilmembers
Through: Kelly DiMartino, City Manager
Tyler Marr, Deputy City Manager
Caryn Champine, PDT Director
From: Kim Meyer, Interim Community Development and Neighborhood Services Director
Heather Jarvis, Assistant City Attorney II
Subject: December 10, 2024, Work Session Summary: Appeals Procedure – Draft Code
Update
BOTTOM LINE
The purpose of this memo is to document the summary of discussions and Council feedback
during the December 10, 2024, Work Session. All Councilmembers were present.
DISCUSSION SUMMARY
Staff presented a draft of proposed code updates to the appeals process contained in Chapter
2, Article II, Division 3 of the Municipal Code, highlighting those areas that comprise the most
significant shifts in procedure and policy.
Councilmembers provided feedback that they appreciated and generally agreed with the
process updates and look forward to getting the ordinance in place for a better and clearer
process for all parties.
Feedback for specific areas of additional revision included:
1. Fees. No specific fees were proposed by staff in the code for the fair hearing review and
the appeal hearing process. Council wants Staff to propose a fee in the ordinance that
will continue to ensure reasonable access to the appeal process, as well as represent
some level of investment by an appellant. A rule-of-thumb inflation rate would place the
current $100 fee at approximately $250 for the appeal hearing process .
2. Timing. Concern was expressed on the proposed timeline and Councilmembers made it
clear that with this update, the overall process needs to include a streamlined and tighter
timeline. Council asked Staff to critically reexamine the timelines presented to condense
timeframes to the extent feasible.
• Community Engagement & Participation. Council wants staff to work on on-going
updates and improvements to non-code processes related to provision of information,
guidelines, and templates, ensuring early awareness and clear communications to the
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community that addresses effective participation in development reviews, hearings, and
similar decision processes, and provide clarity on the purpose and scope of appeal s.
NEXT STEPS
Staff will synthesize the responses into updated code language and will plan to present to
Council an ordinance for first reading in January 2025.
FOLLOW-UP ITEMS
With the proposed ordinance, the agenda item summary will include the fee inflation rate
information and an updated process duration comparison table.
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