Re-alignment and transfer of zoning-related activities and processes to the St. Joseph County Area Plan Commission from the Building Department

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RE-ALIGNMENT AND TRANSFER OF ZONING-RELATED ACTIVITIES AND PROCESSES TO THE ST. JOSEPH COUNTY AREA PLAN COMMISSION FROM THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT Zoning Administrator/Zoning Administration Statutory Basis: The position of Zoning Administrator(ZA) is established in the respective zoning ordinances-Chapter 154.582 of the St. Joseph County Zoning Ordinance and Section 21-09.04 of the South Bend Zoning Ordinance. The Towns appoint their own ZAs. History: Prior to the merging of the South Bend and St. Joseph County building departments,the respective Building Commissioners also held the position of ZA. The Building Commissioner of the South Bend/St. Joseph County Building Department is the ZA for South Bend and unincorporated St. Joseph County. Responsibilities: The Zoning Ordinance establishes the duties of the ZA: 1. Enforce and administer the zoning ordinance 2. Investigate matters relative to the zoning ordinance(interpret&investigate) 3. Receive and review applications to the ABZA(administrative process) 4. Provide technical advice to the ABZA 5. Maintain ABZA records 6. Issue improvement location permits Administration: The Building Commissioner performs the duties of ZA.Two FTEs spend the majority of their time assisting the ZA in his duties. One on the tasks associated with the ABZA, and one on the enforcement of the zoning ordinances.As noted earlier,the Building Department does not perform zoning administration tasks for the towns. Bldg. Dept. Tasks: Make interpretations on permitted uses and development standards of the Zoning Ordinances; accept and process ABZA petitions including administrative tasks such as correspondence, agendas, meeting attendance and minutes; answer inquiries on variance and special exception filing requirements; investigate zoning violations and pursue fines when needed. Current APC Tasks: Offers opinions on interpretation issues;confirms zoning district boundaries and the zoning of properties. Since APC keeps records of past zoning actions,does research and zoning confirmation of those actions. Increased Tasks for Staff: Staff would assume all the responsibilities of the ZA, noted above. The ABZA burden was addressed in the previous section. Since the tasks associated with the balance of the responsibilities are varied, each requires a separate discussion. Task#1. Zoning interpretation—Staff works on a daily basis with the zoning ordinance and drafts all of the text amendments,and participates in Page 417