Zoning

Zoning Matters

The zoning matters below have been considered by the Somerton Civic Association's members. The Notice of Refusal shows what brought the matter before the Civic.  Once Civic members consider an appeal at a meeting, a letter is sent to the Zoning Board of Adjustment explaining the outcome of the member meeting. Notices of refusal and the Civic's letters are posted here, but other emails and documents-- sometimes many of them-- are generated as the board gathers information about a project.  

After Civic members vote on a zoning matter, a hearing is held by the ZBA, which can approve the zoning relief being sought, deny it, or approve it conditionally.  You can look up the date of an upcoming ZBA hearing using this site.

The ZBA always has Civic members' recommendation before it when it decides what to do. But the ZBA isn't bound to follow that recommendation.  City law, as the relevant City agencies interpret it, doesn't currently require the ZBA to publish any explanation of its decisions, or even to explain those decisions at all.

--Councilmanic Prerogative

An important consideration in zoning is so-called councilmanic privilege or prerogative.  In the zoning context, this amounts to an unwritten rule that the ZBA defers to the wishes of the district council member whose district includes the property in question. Councilmanic privilege is also an element of other City decisionmaking processes besides the zoning process, enabling district council members to influence the actions of City agencies operating within their districts.  Somerton is situated within the 10th Council district.  The documents at the right describe councilmanic privilege in more detail.