5-206 Public Action on the Development Application

Section 5-206 Public Action on the Development Application

5-206.A. Site Inspection. Prior to any meeting or hearing to consider an application, a reviewing body may, either as a whole or through a committee appointed for that purpose, inspect the site of a proposed development. Reasonable advance notice of such site inspection shall be provided to the applicant by verbal or written means. The applicant shall, as requested, set flags or stakes at the development site locating property boundaries, building envelopes, and other key site development features. If a project review requires public notice of a hearing, the public notice shall also state the time and place of any site inspection and that the inspection shall be open to the public.

5-206.B.1. When a H.A.R.C. review and recommendation is required for a proposed development it shall be obtained pursuant to Article 7 of this Title prior to final action by P&Z on the development application. HARC design review shall be completed subsequent to final action by P&Z.

5-206.B.2. When a variance is necessary for a proposed development, it shall be obtained pursuant to Article 6, Division 2 of this Title prior to final action by a reviewing body on the development application, unless otherwise permitted by the reviewing body.

Table 5-3. Reviewing Body Final Approval Authority
Planning Director and Applicable Review Body Chair	Town Engineer	H.A.R.C.	Planning and Zoning Commission	Town Council
1. Interpret Text of Land Use Code	1. Issue Geologic Hazard Permits	Grant Large Scale Activities	1. Grant Large Scale PUD or Subdivision	1. Grant Amendments to the Zone District Map
2. Interpret Official Zone District Map Boundaries	2. Issue Floodplain Hazard Permits	Grant Small Scale Activities	2. Grant Small Scale PUD or Subdivision	2. Grant Amendments to the Land Use Code
3. Grant Minor Subdivision	3. Issue Access Permits		3. Allow Uses Permitted on Review	3. Adopt the Master Plan and Plan Amendments
4. Grant Minor and Insubstantial H.A.R.C. Activities	4. Issue Encroachment Permits		4. Allow Activities Permitted on Review	4. Approve Annexation of Land to the Town
5. Grant Subdivision or PUD Amendment	5. Issue Excavation Permits		5. Grant Standard Variances	5. Designate Areas and Activities of State and Local Interest
6. Grant Insubstantial amendment to Use Permitted on Review			6. Independent Calculation of Employment Generation	6. Approve Licenses for Mobile Home Parks
7. Grant Secondary Unit Variance				7. Hear Appeals of Decisions By All Other Review Bodies

5-206.C. Hearing Procedure. At a hearing to consider a development application the reviewing body shall review the data supplied by the applicant, review the findings and recommendations of the Planning Staff, and take testimony from all interested persons in attendance. The applicant shall offer competent evidence in support of the application sufficient to enable the reviewing body to consider the matter and make findings on the subject. The applicant has the burden of presenting all necessary and relevant information and evidence in support of the application. During the hearing process on all preliminary and final reviews of development applications, the reviewing body may allow for up to three continuances to hear the matter, so that the applicant may make modifications or provide additional information and evidence in support of the application. The Town Manager, upon request by the Chair or the reviewing body, may provide an exemption to the limitation on continuances when a compelling reason exists in the discretion of the Town Manager.

5-206.D. Action By Decision-Making Body. After hearing evidence and considering the comments of all persons interested in a matter, the reviewing body shall render a decision accompanied by any necessary findings and have them entered in its minutes. In its findings, the reviewing body should report the facts found and its conclusions and whether the development application is approved, approved with conditions, recommended for approval by another body, tabled or continued pending receipt of additional information, or denied. The reviewing body shall not be required to take final action on a development application during the same meeting at which evidence or testimony from interested persons has been taken and may continue the matter in accordance with the limitations set forth in Section 5-205.C. of this Article.

5-206.E.1. Any action or approval authorized to be taken by the Planning Director or Chairperson of the P&Z or H.A.R.C. may be referred by that person to the P&Z or H.A.R.C., as the case may warrant, for its review and approval should the action or approval be deemed to be of elevated interest to either the reviewing body or to the affected neighborhood.

5-206.E.2. A reviewing body may refer to its Chairperson and/or the Planning Director final compliance review of any condition or other concern which arises during that body’s review or approval of an application.

5-206.F.1. The Town Council, or any two (2) Councilpersons, may call up a development application for review by Town Council upon written notice thereof at any time after the application is certified complete and until fourteen (14) days after the date of final decision of the reviewing body.

5-206.F.2. A copy of the written call-up notice shall be mailed by the Town Clerk to the applicant and the reviewing body. Upon filing of such notice with the Town Clerk, any decision of the reviewing body shall be suspended.

5-206.F.3. Upon call-up, the Town Council shall be vested with jurisdiction over the development application and shall conduct its review of the application under the same process and requirements applicable to the reviewing body. Such review shall be conducted within thirty (30) days from the date of the call-up, or as soon thereafter as can be reasonably accommodated.

5-206.G. Termination. The Town’s policy is to move projects through the review process in a reasonable and expeditious manner. The time required for development review will vary with the size and complexity of each application and the establishment of exact time requirements for review is often impractical. A reviewing body, however, may deny an application which remains inactive under the following conditions:

5-206.G.1. Whenever the Planning Director has reason to believe that an applicant is not making reasonable progress in moving a development application towards final action he may request the reviewing body to deny the development application and close the files with respect to that project. No development application shall be denied on the basis of inaction without giving sixty (60) days prior written notice to the applicant by certified mail. Such notice shall state the intent of the Planning Director to have the project denied because of inaction and the time, place, and a date when the matter will be heard before the reviewing body.

5-206.G.2. A project may be deemed inactive and subject to denial for inactivity if at the time of hearing on the denial request:

a. More than three (3) months have passed since the last meeting between the Planning Director or the reviewing body and the applicant; or

b. More than two (2) months have passed since a request for additional information was made by the Planning Director or the reviewing body to the applicant, which request has not been complied with or substantively responded to; or

c. The applicant is more than sixty (60) days in default of the payment of any fee assessed under this Title, or has not paid the fee under protest; or

d. The applicant has stated an intention to abandon the project; or

e. The application has been filed for the purpose of attempting to vest real property development rights prior to a zoning or code change without an actual intent to construct the project applied for.

5-206.G.3. An applicant may appeal to the Town Council a reviewing body’s denial of a project for inactivity in the same manner as any other appeal. The action may also be called up by the Council. The Town Council may reinstate the application subject to payment of full or partial application fees, reinstate it subject to specific conditions, or deny reinstatement.

5-206.G.4. If an applicant desires to proceed with a project following termination, the applicant must start at the beginning of the review process with a new submission and payment of new application fees. The new submission shall be subject to all provisions of this Title then in effect.

5-206.H. Payments Delinquent. No final approval shall be granted for any application pertaining to property for which the owner is delinquent with any payment due to the Town, including, but not limited to, land use or building permit application fees and Town or County taxes and assessments.

5-206.I. Multiple Active Development Applications. To maintain a predictable and efficient land development review process, a reviewing body shall not approve more than one (1) active, nonamending PUD or subdivision application for an affected parcel of land.