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HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 022 (3) INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 23-022 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council January 24, 2023 h�T�i7 G �r%o- f Page 1 of 1 i7 Y * rrn SUBJECT: REPORT ON THE POLICY AND PROCEDURES RELATING TO OPPOSITION OF A ZONING CASE AND CLARIFICATION ON WHEN A "SUPER-MAJORITY" VOTE IS REQUIRED This report provides clarification on the policy and procedures relating to support or opposition counts of a zoning case, and clarification on when a "super-majority" vote by the City Council is required. The way staff gathers and count correspondence for zoning cases corresponds with the two statutory Public Hearings required zoning cases: The Zoning Commission hearing, and the City Council hearing. For the Zoning Commission hearing, affected parties can submit a letter or email to either the case manager for that case link with (contact information is posted in the staff report) or to the generic email for zoning, zoning land usea-fortworthtexas.gov, which is posted in the Zoning Commission page and the public notification cards. This correspondence is collected until the end of business day Monday before the Zoning Commission hearing, which is on the second Wednesday of each month. Staff compiles all correspondence and sends a first round to Commissioners on the Friday prior to the hearing, and then a final round on the day before the hearing (Tuesday). If other correspondence is received during that time by other means, for example through the corresponding Council District Office, those should be forwarded to zoning land use(a)fortworthtexas.gov to be incorporated as well. For the City Council hearing, affected parties can continue to submit a letter or email to either the case manager for that case link or to the generic email for zoning; however, in this second phase most constituents tend to send them to the corresponding Council District office. In that case, the District Director is welcome to forward them to zoning land usea-fortworthtexas.gov in order to be incorporated into the package that Council will receive as the hearing day approaches. A first round of correspondence is shared with Council Members on the last Tuesday of each month, regarding the following month's Council hearing, so questions to the Zoning Administrator can be asked at the first Tuesday work session of the month, and then the cases are typically heard on the second Tuesday of the month. Similarly, if the City Secretary Office receives zoning correspondence, it gets forwarded to the generic zoning email listed above. The deadline for City Council hearing zoning case correspondence is the end of business day Monday before the Council hearing. Supermajority vote is triggered when owners of land of at least 20 percent of either: (1) the area of the lots or land covered by the proposed zoning change; or (2) the area of the lots or land immediately adjoining the area covered by the proposed change and extending 200 feet from that area file a protest, then the Council must approve the rezoning by an affirmative vote of at least three-fourths of all members of the governing body. In the current Council configuration this represents 7 votes. The protest must be in writing and signed by the property owners. Note that the area of streets and alleys is included in determining whether the protestors have met the 20 percent threshold. This area is calculated by Zoning staff before City Council meeting day in GIS, and that is why correspondence must be closed on Monday evening. If you have any questions, please contact Daniel Leal —Zoning and Design Review Assistant Director at 817-392-6214. David Cooke City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS