Submitted by SnareWire t3_10ugx2j in newhampshire
Anyone here have experience with attending a town zoning board of adjustment meeting? Someone has requested a zoning variance for a property near us (Rockingham county) and we have no idea what to expect at the meeting. Will we get a chance to ask questions of the owner? Do we have any say in whether the variance is granted?
Thanks - I'll check the town's website.
Ask your neighbor to walk you through what they’re planning to do. If it’s something you’re cool with, ignore it or show up to speak in favor. If it’s something you’re not cool with, tell them your concerns rather than blindsiding them at the meeting. If they’re not receptive to addressing your concerns and you want to speak against it at the meeting, read the minutes from past meetings (they should be online) so you know what to expect.
Sounds good, thanks. I have a copy of the application for variance; I'll reach out to the attorney that filed it.
Note that if you do want to speak against it, "I don't like it because X" is not very useful to the zoning board. The board has a specific set of criteria by which variances are supposed to be evaluated. You want to be able to say "I believe that this variance should not be granted because it does not address requirement Y in the town zoning ordinance, and the same goals could be achieved without a variance and without significant hardship by doing Z."
That lawyer isn't, likely, authorized to speak to you. If you want to speak to anybody, speak to your Town Planner and get their take on it. Its possible that they have an opinion that agrees with yours.
Very good advice.
Probably TMI, but the state publishes a ZBA handbook with all the procedures that must be followed. It can be highly stylized and formal. Or see their FAQ. If you google videos of "zoning board of adjustment meetings" there are plenty of examples. (But probably boring, if not your town.) If you are an abutter, you get noticed by mail, and definitely be given a chance to speak. No, you can't ask the owner questions directly. You have to address your questions to the board chair, but you will get a response. Pro tip: find the minutes of the planning board hearing (or video if your town records meetings), to find out why they need a variance. -a local ZBA member
Excellent. Thank you!
Legally, town land use regs need to be rooted in public health and public safety to be defensible. Making your comments tied to one or both of those helps your argument. Before the meeting be familiar with the area, where is north, street names, and map/lot numbers; often residents don’t know their neighborhood by these details and that hurts your ability to follow along. Address all comments to the chair and not applicant, including your questions. Be familiar with the five conditions to approve a variance in NH (RSA 674:33). If it seems like the decision might not go your way, consider proposing conditions to mitigate your concerns as best possible. NHmunicipal.org writes good layperson blogs on this type of issue. Good luck
This is a good point. In many cases, the contractor will employ an architect to do the presentation and they will have everything on a laptop connected to the projector with diagrams of what they want to do. They should also make handouts available to the board making the decision. Sometimes what they present may address your concerns and sometimes they aren't aware of your concerns. But it's worthwhile knowing things like property boundaries.
Thanks so much!
I gave a presentation at one of our planning board meetings for about 15 minutes over an abutter cutting down a bunch of our trees.
Our town has the meetings and the other town meetings on YouTube so that anyone can watch them. They have a staff of 3 to do the video work and the room where most town meetings are held has a lot of special AV equipment to do records. School Board meetings are done in classrooms or gyms so the quality of the video isn't as good but it is available.
That's interesting - I'll see if I can find something on YouTube. Thanks!
Love public access! There’s a couple towns with this type of set up.
> I gave a presentation at one of our planning board meetings for about 15 minutes over an abutter cutting down a bunch of our trees.
WTF abutter cutting down YOUR trees? that's a full-on NO, hard stop.
He had to replace them but with 6 foot trees instead of 100 foot trees. He also had to remove a freshly paved area and regrade as he was dumping water onto our property from his parking lot resulting in flooding in our neighborhood. This was a strip mall and they had to agree to a number of concessions to get approval for any further changes.
He bought the property and it appears that the previous owner told him the property boundaries that weren't accurate. He also didn't know about some of the requirements put in place when the strip mall was originally built. He hired an architect to straighten out the mess. I made a 25-page presentation and printed 15 copies as that was the requirement and his architect already had a proposal at the meeting after my presentation.
They are pretty straight forward in my experience.
The chair of the zoning board will typically read the zoning ordinance that is potentially affected and then describe how it is going to be impacted.
The property owner or their representative is then given time to speak , and the abutters and zoning board members then ask questions.
I’m not sure how it is in other towns, but in mine, the board can make their decision with or without approval of the abutters. But, if you ask serious questions and raise real concerns, then the board members will hopefully be more likely to question the need for the variance.
Okay, sounds good. Thank you!
If you're not in favor of it, a few people who feel similarly being there with you will help.
e.g your like-minded neighbors/abutters.
I sit on my city's planning board; it's a related group that hears more major (typically coming from commercial development) reviews, but the process is really similar.
There will be an applicant presentation, a public comment session, and the board will typically question the applicant. As a general rule, if they're at this point, they're looking for an exception from a standard rule so that they can avoid either a setback requirement, a wetland requirement, or something to do with historic district rules. Setbacks and wetlands are pretty common where I am, historic stuff has its own board, but those can vary by location. I would stronglly suggest that you talk to your neighbor about concerns before you go to the board; in a lot of cases, neighbor fights erupting at these meetings could have been resolved by people actually talking to each other beforehand.
If you have an issue with what your neighbor's doing and they're unwilling to address it with you, come to the meeting prepared with the specific ordnance or rule they're looking for an exception from and a reason based on something more than 'I don't like it'. We had a recent case where multiple neighbors were objecting to the noise of earthmoving equipment being used on a subdivision project. I could sympathize - I grew up in Nashua during a major construction boom, and I got to contend with the noise of dump trucks and equipment moving up and down my street while I tried to do homework - but if they're working during times that aren't set as quiet by ordnance, they're allowed, and a ZBA or planning board that denies for that is going to get sued and lose, which means that your neighbors are going to get to do what they wanted and your taxes are going up to pay for the legal fees.
If you do have objections, I'd recommend practicing your presentation beforehand. The first couple times you're speaking on camera with an at least partially hostile audience are surprisingly intimidating, and you'll do better if you're prepped beforehand. Good luck!
Look at the 5th criteria very carefully. If the request does not meet that criteria then the application should be turned down. There are 2 parts to criteria 5. If the variance request does not meet the first, it must meet both a and b of the second.
Variance Criteria 5 Literal enforcement of the zoning ordinance would result in an unnecessary hardship.
OR If #1 not satisfied: 2. AN UNNECESSARY HARDSHIP WILL BE DEEMED TO EXIST IF, AND ONLY IF, OWING TO SPECIAL CONDITIONS OF THE PROPERTY THAT DISTINGUISH IT FROM OTHER PROPERTIES IN THE AREA, THE PROPERTY CANNOT BE REASONABLY USED IN STRICT CONFORMANCE WITH THE ORDINANCE AND A VARIANCE IS THEREFORE NECESSARY TO ENABLE A REASONABLE USE OF IT.
Also look at your town's Master Plan. It is (supposed to be ) updated every X number of years. It is kind of a textbook for what the town and its residents want the town to be like and Zoning regs are supposed to represent and help the town follow the master plan. That's a bit of a crap explanation, but it is worth reading. It should be on your town's website and if not it will be available in the town office.
One point to keep in mind. The variance goes with the property, not the person, so don't base your support for a variance on how nice or honest the people requesting the variance are. They may be wonderful, but the next owners may not be. This is why a general yes for a variance request is shortsighted. There should be conditions which refer to the specific variance and the plans submitted should be stamped and signed by both the applicant AND the zba. That signed plan should be kept with the other originals including minutes, decisions, and all submittal.
Good luck. Sorry about the book. Some ZBAs are better than others. If the decision goes against your side and you have standing (abutter) you have 30 days to appeal so be sure you pay attention to the decision.
There should be an agenda posted that gives you a better idea what this is about (an addition/subdivision of property, etc). From here, you can prepare better so not have to speak on the fly.
Yeah, we intended to have some prepared remarks; speaking on the fly can lead to emotions getting out of hand. I did find the agenda online. Thanks!
An hour or two of your life you won't get back arguing about a porch or some shit.
For a variance to be approved these five conditions must be met
(A) The variance will not be contrary to the public interest; (B) The spirit of the ordinance is observed; (C) Substantial justice is done; (D) The values of surrounding properties are not diminished; and (E) Literal enforcement of the provisions of the ordinance would result in an unnecessary hardship.
If you are opposing the variance you should refer to one (or more) of the conditions as not being met. See NH ZBA handbook for a discussion of these.
There will first be a presentation by the applicant to review their plans and why they need a variance. The board will ask questions. Then there will be a portion for public comments/questions.
The board will discuss this further, and then they will decide whether or not to vote or if they need additional information.
You can expect a group of board members who let the tiny amount of power they wield go directly to their heads.
You should be very vocal about your rights here. The zoning is part of your property, it belongs to you and protects you. The variance they are seeking may reduce your property value or cause you distress.
Icy-Neck-2422 t1_j7bqlsw wrote
Abutters will have an opportunity to speak in favor of or in opposition to petitions.
Chances are your town will post meeting minutes online so you can get a preview of the process.