It appears Oxford/Orion FISH won’t have to pay an $800 application fee to have a variance request decided by the township Zoning Board of Appeals, if there’s another applicant already paying for a meeting.
‘I really don’t think anybody will mind,? said Trustee Sue Bellairs, noting the township should check with the other applicant(s) first to see if they have any problems with FISH ‘piggybacking? on their request. ‘I think it could be worked out.?
Last week, the township board voted 7-0 to authorize that FISH’s application ‘be coupled with the first request? for a variance issue to be heard by the ZBA.
The idea being if there’s already another residential or commercial applicant paying for a ZBA meeting, FISH could simply be added to that agenda, free of charge.
Application fees help pay for the ZBA to function and meet. ZBA members, of which there are seven, are paid $95 per meeting except for the chairman who receives $105. The recording secretary is paid $100 per meeting.
Commercial applicants pay a straight $800 ZBA fee no matter who else is on the agenda. However, residential applicants pay fees based on how many are on the agenda. One residential applicant pays $750, two pay $425 each and three pay $325 each.
Trustee Doleen Behnke wants the other applicant or applicants who are ‘putting the money down? to agree before FISH is added to a ZBA agenda, so they don’t ‘feel forced into it.?
‘I just want to make sure someone isn’t going to feel obligated to do it,? she said.
In order for FISH to build a wheelchair ramp, required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, at its food pantry in Thomas, the non-profit group needs to first obtain a variance from the ZBA. To have their case decided by the ZBA, FISH must pay an $800 fee.
However, FISH, which distributes free food to the needy along with paying rent and utility bills, asked for a waiver of that fee. The ZBA board agreed, but left it up to the township board to decide how to work it out.
Complicating the issue is a state law requires ZBA members must be paid for meetings. If no fee was paid by FISH and it was the only applicant, the township would have to pay that ZBA meeting. But the township can’t pay because it would constitute a charitable donation using tax dollars, which is illegal. Adding FISH to a paid-for ZBA meeting solves that problem.
‘If they’re (FISH) piggybacking on another applicant, they’re (the ZBA) getting paid,? explained Supervisor Bill Dunn.
Because the ZBA only meets when there’s an applicant paying to have a variance request heard, Bellairs noted ‘it’s not a given that there’s going to be? another meeting before spring, which is when FISH is looking to construct the ramp.
‘We probably only had two ZBA meetings (this) year,? she said.