Property rights vs pretty city

By Janet Jacobs

July 18, 2008 12:02 am

— Allen Taylor, a specialist in city land use law, spoke to the Planning and Zoning Commission, members of the Board of Adjustments and members of the Strategic Planning Group Thursday in a special meeting at city hall. Also attending were C.L. “Buster” Brown, mayor; Connie Standridge, city manager; Lee McCleary, economic development director, and Paul Ward, the new planning and zoning director.
The goal was to help the board members know what their powers were, what those limitations were, and to answer questions about specific cases that have arisen in Corsicana.
In general, however, the theme was how can Corsicana improve itself without violating property owners’ rights?
“These people are saying ‘you gave it to Joe Blow down the road,’” explained John Yates. “I think the city council should take the heat, otherwise, we’re never going to be anything but a D-minus.”
Yates was referring to the advice from a retail analyst in December, who rated the town’s appearance a “D-minus” and said it was frightening away outside business owners.
Ned Polk agreed.
“You can write all the master plans you want and undermine it with your variances,” Polk said.
One of the problems pointed out was a lack of communications between the various boards, and the intentions of the city.
“Keep in mind, the objective here is to not grant variances,” said Bill Spae, a developer who is also on the Strategic Planning Group.
Susan Hale Bruce, planning and zoning board, agreed.
“We need to be stronger on variances,” she said. “A lot of people think they can work the system because they’re good guys.”
Corsicana’s situation isn’t unusual, Taylor said. Lots of cities grant too many exceptions to the rules and then come to regret it later. The way to dig out is to first educate the public about the city’s new stance, and then to pass an overlay or other set of rules that really spell out what can and cannot be done in each area.
“You need to come forward with an explanation to the community,” he said. After that, the applicant has the burden of justifying why he deserves a variance.
“Ninety-five percent of all variance requests should be denied,” Taylor said.
He also gave the city some advice on how to get out of mistakes made by boards in the past. On variances, the city can pass new rules withdrawing variances if a business closes. The city can also amortize older businesses that are obstructing progress, and either buying them out or setting timetables for them to come into compliance.
Working with the businesses is the best way, but there are last-ditch solutions, Taylor said. However, each of the solutions requires rewriting certain ordinances, he said.
The city may also rezone a property, he said, a revelation that was met with collective “oohs” by the assembled board members.
Standridge admitted that information was “very enlightening.”
“We’ve thought for years you can’t change someone’s zoning because it’s a property right,” she said.
The city has a considerable amount of property that was apparently mis-zoned at one time or another for projects that never panned out. Taylor assured them the city can go back and undo those zoning mistakes without violating the law.
Taylor is a partner in the law firm of Taylor, Olson, Adkins, Sralla and Elam in Fort Worth.
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Janet Jacobs may be reached via e-mail at jacobs@corsicanadailysun.com

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