Members of Bella Vista's Board of Construction Appeals met Feb. 14 and welcomed the board's newest member, Manuel "Wade" Hagan, and also discussed the language on the city's construction-exception application.
Hagan said he moved to Bella Vista in 2011, and he has experience as a contractor working with concrete in Southern California. He's also done plastering, repaired swimming pools and built houses.
"I like building things," he said. "I'm an outdoorsy kind of guy."
He joined the board, he said, because he's interested in putting his knowledge base to use helping the community.
While the board did not reach the necessary quorum to discuss the agenda, those present were able to make some progress on the application's language.
Senior planner Jennifer Bonner said this discussion is important to ensure everyone can agree on the application's language, particularly on a series of questions applicants need to answer pertaining to whether the exception would, essentially, be problematic to grant.
Questions address whether the literal interpretation of the city's code would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by other properties, if special conditions or circumstances exist for the particular piece of land, and if granting the exception would keep the general intent and spirit of the relevant provisions in the city code, to name a few.
In order for an exception to be granted, she said, the board has to find that the request meets at least one of the criteria brought up in these questions.
The board also has the option to consider any of these questions as not applicable, she said. Additionally, if the board can work with the applicant and find a better solution, they don't need to worry about the questions, she said.
It's important, she said, to make sure everyone -- including staff, board members and applicants -- can easily understand the wording of the questions, and reach the exact same conclusion regarding what they mean.
"We're literally just trying to make sure everyone is all on the same page as far as how the review criteria are written," she said.
Board member Stan Moore pointed out that question 3, which asks if any special conditions present are the result of the applicant's action, is only applicable if there's a "yes" on question 2, which asks if there are any special conditions.
Bonner said she could modify this to be question 2a and 2b.
Hagan mentioned that question 6 asks if the action is "injurious to the neighborhood, but he wasn't sure if injurious has a specific definition anywhere in city code. Chris Suneson, director of the Community Development Services Department, said that injurious uses a standard dictionary definition, and deciding if an action is injurious would require some degree of discernment among the board.
"This is a quasi-judicial board. This is the last line of appeal ... prior to going to a court case. So you guys are kind of the relief valve when you get into injurious decisions," Suneson said. "So when you step into the role as a board, you really are interpreting the decision ... or the section of code, much like a judge would."
Business on 02/22/2017