Two ordinance amendments designed to change the makeup of the Oxford Village Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) had their first readings approved by council last week.
The first proposed amendment would decrease the number of village council persons required to serve on the commission from two to one.
The remaining eight planning commissioners must be village residents under the proposed wording, something that’s not included in the current ordinance.
Manager Joe Young pointed out that state law ‘does not restrict? planning commission membership to residents only. ‘It’s strictly a council decision on that.?
No village employees would be allowed on the planning commission, except for the village manager, who would served as a non-voting, ex-officio member.
Ex-officio means the village manager would serve on the commission by virtue of his position as manager.
One of the planning commissioners shall be an ex-officio member of the ZBA, according to the proposed language.
Up to two planning commissioners may also be members of the Oxford Downtown Development Authority (DDA) under the proposed ordinance. The current ordinance only allows for one DDA member.
Seeking clarification, Councilman Chris Bishop said, ‘So, in order for a DDA member to be on the planning commission, the way this reads, they would also have to be (village) residents.?
Young said under the amendment’s current wording that’s correct.
Despite the proposal, village planning commissioners favor having only one DDA member on their board and they also want new appointments to the commission to be subject to their recommendations.
With regard to the village ZBA, there’s a proposed ordinance amendment to increase its membership from five to six. The reason for adding a sixth member is to ‘better meet? a state law which requires a two-thirds majority vote in order to grant a variance.
Under the current ZBA makeup, an applicant would need four out of five votes to gain a variance. Adding a sixth member, means four out of six votes would be required, a true two-thirds.
As part of council’s approval of the first reading of the ZBA change, officials added a village residency requirement for all ZBA members, just like the proposed planning commission change.
Second reading and adoption for both ordinance amendments is set for the Tuesday, July 11 village council meeting.
Anyone interested in applying for either board can call the village offices at (248) 628-2543.