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HomeMy WebLinkAbout088 - 08/01/1995 - AMENDING CITY CODE PERTAINING TO THE APPEALS PROCEDURE ORDINANCE NO. 88, 1995 OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS AMENDING CHAPTER 2, DIVISION 3, OF THE CODE OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS PERTAINING TO THE APPEALS PROCEDURE WHEREAS, Chapter 2, Division 3 of the City Code defines the process whereby appeals from certain City boards and commissions may be taken to the City Council; and WHEREAS, the majority of the appeals heard by the Council deal with land use decisions made by the Planning and Zoning Board; and WHEREAS, on March 21, 1995, the Council considered certain changes to the appeals procedure and deferred its decision regarding such proposed changes until such time as the Council's Growth Management Committee could meet to review those and other possible changes to the appeals process, and until the entire Council could meet with members of the Planning and Zoning Board to discuss all such changes; and WHEREAS, the Council-Growth-Management-Committee.met with Citystaff on-May- 1F, 1995, to review the appeals process and to identify issues to be addressed by the Council; and WHEREAS, City Council met on June 13, 1995, with members of the Planning and Zoning Board in a Study Session to discuss possible changes to the appeals process; and WHEREAS, as a result of such discussions, the Council wishes to amend the provisions of Chapter 2, Division 3 of the City Code in the manner described below. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT COLLINS as follows: Section 1. That Section 2-48 of the Code of the City is hereby amended to read as follows: Sec. 2-48. Appeal of final decision permitted; effect of appeal; grounds for appeal. (a) A party-in-interest may appeal to the City Council the final decision of any board or commission to which this appeal procedure applies in the manner provided in this Division. No action shall be taken in reliance upon any decision of a board or commission that is subject to appeal under the provisions of this Division until all appeal rights related to such decision have been exhausted. (b) Except for appeals by members of the City Council the permissible grounds for appeal shall be limited to allegations that the board or commission committed one (1) or more of the following errors: (1) Failure to properly interpret and apply relevant provisions of the Code and Charter. (2) Failure to conduct a fair hearing in that: a. The board or commission exceeded its authority or jurisdiction as contained in the Code or Charter; b. The board or commission substantially ignored its previously established rules of procedure; C. The board or commission considered evidence relevant to its findings which was substantially false or grossly misleading; or d. The board or commission improperly failed to receive all relevant evidence offered by the appellant. Appeals filed by members of the City Council need not include specific grounds for appeal, but shall include a general description of the issues to be considered on appeal. Upon the filing of any such appeal, the director of the affected City service area shall identify the specific Code provisions that may pertain to the issues raised by such appeal and shall provide such information to the City Clerk prior to the date that the notice of hearing on the appeal is to be mailed by the City Clerk to parties-in- interest under Sec. 2-54. Said information shall then be mailed to the parties-in- interest-together with.he notice of hearing: Section 2. That Section 2-49 of the Code of the City is hereby amended so as to read in its entirety as follows: Sec. 2-49. Filing of Notice of Appeal. An appeal shall be taken by filing a notice of appeal of the final decision of a board or commission to which this Division applies with the City Clerk within fourteen (14) days after the action which is the subject of the appeal. Such notice of appeal shall be signed by all appellants and shall include the following: (1) The action of the board or commission which is the subject of the appeal; (2) The date of such action; (3) The name, address, telephone number and relationship of each appellant to the subject of the action of the board or commission; 2 (4) For all appeals except those filed by members of City Council, the grounds for the appeal, including specific allegations of error and a summary of the facts contained in the record on appeal which support those allegations; (5) In the case of an appeal by more than one appellant, the name, address and telephone number of one such appellant who shall be authorized to receive, on behalf of all appellants, any notice required to be mailed by the City to the appellants under the provisions of Section 2-50. Section 3. That Sections 2-50 and 2-51 of the Code of the City are hereby amended so as to read in their entirety as follows: Sec. 2-50. Review of notice of appeal by City Attorney. Within five (5) working days of the date of the filing of the notice of appeal, the notice-shall be reviewed by the City Attorney for any obvious defects in form or substance. The City Clerk shall notify the appellant in writing by certified mail of any such defect in the notice of appeal, which notice shall be mailed no more than seven (7) working days from the date of filing of the notice of appeal. The appellant shall have seven (7) calendar days from the date of mailing of such notice within which to file an amended notice of appeal under §2-51. Sec. 2-51. Amended notice of appeal permitted. An amended notice of appeal may be filed by the appellant at any time prior to the date for mailing by the City Clerk of the notice of appeal to other parties-in-interest as contained in §2-54, or such later date as may be permitted under §2-50. Such amended notice of appeal shall contain all of the information required under §2-49 for the original notice of appeal. Amendments to the notice of appeal need not be limited to those defects, if any, which have been identified by Qte City Attorney. Section 4. That Section 2-54 of the Code of the City is hereby amended to read in its entirety as follows: Sec. 2-54. Scheduling of the hearing. In the event of an appeal, the City Clerk shall schedule a date for hearing the appeal no less than thirty (30) nor more than sixty (60) days after the date of filing of the notice of appeal. The City Clerk shall provide the appellant and all other parties-in- interest fourteen (14) days' written notice of the date, time and place of the hearing. Said notice shall also include a copy of the notice of appeal and shall inform the parties-in-interest of the period of time within which the appellant may file an amended notice of appeal or additional issues may be identified under Sections 2-50 and 2-56, respectively. 3 Section 5. That Section 2-56 of the Code of the City is hereby amended to read in its entirety as follows: Sec. 2-56. New evidence; scope of review; alternative actions available to the City Council; date of final action. (a) The City Council shall consider an appeal based upon the record on appeal, the relevant provisions of the Code and Charter, the grounds for appeal cited in the notice of appeal, and any additional issues identified by a member of the City Council prior to the hearing. Any such additional issues must be identified in writing and filed with the City Clerk no later than ten (10) calendar days prior to the date of the hearing. (b) New evidence shall not be considered on appeal except under the following circumstances: (1) When offered in support of or in opposition to an allegations under§2-48(2)c that a board or commission considered evidence relevant to its findings which was substantially false or grossly misleading. (2) When offered by City staff or parties-in-interest in response to questions presented by Councilmembers under §2-55(b). (c) In considering an allegation that a board or commission failed to properly interpret and apply the relevant provisions of the Code or Charter asserted under §2- 48(1), the City Council shall determine how such provisions should, in the Council's judgment, be applied to the evidence contained in the record on appeal. (d) At the conclusion of such hearing, the City Council shall uphold, overturn or modify the decision of the board or commission; provided, however, that: (1) The City Council shall instead remand the matter for rehearing if it finds that the appellant was denied a fair hearing before the board or commission for any of the reasons stated in §2-48(2). (2) The City Council may also remand the matter for rehearing in order for the board or commission to receive and consider additional information with regard to any issue raised on appeal. (e) No later than the date of its next regular meeting, the City Council shall adopt, by resolution, findings of fact in support of its decision. The date of passage of such resolution shall be the date of final action of the City Council for the purpose of any subsequent judicial review of the decision of the City Council. 4 Introduced, considered favorably on first reading, and ordered published this 18th day of July, A.D. 1995, and to be presented for final passage on]thest day of An ust, A.D. 1995. yor ATTEST: Q City Clerk Passed and adopted on final reading this lst day of August, A 995 ayor ATTEST: City Clerk 5