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1991.04.23_BAA_Minutes_RegularTOWN OF HIGHLAND BEACH is BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT QUARTERLY MEETING - MINUTES Tuesday, April 23, 1991 9:30 A.M. Noting that the Board had not met this year and at this time had no Chairman, Vice Chairman David Augenstein called the meeting to order at 9:30 A.M. in Commission Chambers. Deputy Town Clerk Doris Trinley called the role. Present were the Vice Chairman and Regular Members Jane Rayner, Robert F. Selby and Harold B. Cohen,and Alternate Members Daniel Stump and Benjamin Cohen. Regular Member Marie Beary was absent. Mr. Augenstein then called for nominations for Chairman and was himself nominated by Mr. Selby; however, the Vice Chairman declined. Mrs. Rayner/Mr. Augenstein nominated Harold B. Cohen, which met with unani- mous favor from the Board. Mr. Augenstein congratulated Mr. Cohen on his re-election to the Chair and asked him to take over the meeting. Mr. Cohen took the Chair, thanking the members for their continued con- fidence, and nominated Mr. Augenstein as Vice Chairman. This nomina- tion was seconded by Mr. Selby and met with unanimous favor by the members. Since the Board had traditionally had a Secretary, Chairman Cohen/Vice Chairman Augenstein nominated Mr. Selby, which met with favorable re- sponse from the members. Chairman Cohen then welcomed new Alternate Members Daniel Stump and Benjamin Cohen to the Board. Upon MOTION by Mr. Augenstein/Mrs. Rayner, the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of April 24, 1990 were approved unanimously. For the record, the Chairman made note of the passing of Gilbert Lorenz, commenting on Mr. Lorenz' long and valuable service as Secre- tary and Regular Member of the Board. He also made note of Reese James' resignation from the Board because of health problems and spoke of Mr. James' contributions to the work of the Board. For the benefit of the newly appointed members of the Board, the Chair- man then conducted a review of the Board's actions when a Petition for Variance was presented: Workshop: first meeting wherein Petitioner states the reason for the petition and explains what hardship would be incurred if a variance were not granted. After petitioner is heard, the members physically inspect the site (with Town Attorney), after which the Work- shop is adjourned. Board,vf Adjustment Quarterly Meeting - Minutes April 23, 1991 Page 2 of 2 is least Hearing: second meeting, which must be scheduled at least 17 days after the Workship and adver- tised 15 and 5 days before. During the Public Hearing, testimony is taken under oath from anyone wishing to address the Board regarding the Petition at hand, after which the members deliberate, possibly confer with the Town Attorney if need be, and make a decision to grant or deny the Petition. Regular Meeting: third meeting, usually held shortly after the Public Hearing, to approve minutes of the Workshop and Public Hearing, as well as ad- dress other Board business. Chairman Cohen further advised that Board meetings are usually called on an "as needed" basis when a Petition for Varianace was sought; how- ever, he added that Town Manager Mary Ann Mariano had concurred with his thought that if no Petitions were forthcoming, it would still be germane to the Board's work for the members to be apprised of the status of building development in Town. Therefore, he said, the Board will meet quarterly, with the Building Official in attendance, to dis- cuss this status and, should a Petition be sought before the quarterly meeting, the Board would endeavor to have the quarterly meeting coin- cide with the closing Regular Meeting regarding such Petition. Replying to Mr. Stump's question regarding any time limit placed on a variance, Chairman Cohen said the criteria was that work must be started within one year. Vice Chairman Augenstein commented on the Board being quasi-judicial in nature and Chairman Cohen added that the Board was charged to interpret existing Code only. He further said that past decisions of the Board to grant a variance have not been given lightly; definite hardship re- garding compliance with Town Code had to be proven by the Petitioner. A brief discussion of some properties took place before a date for the next quarterly meeting was set for Tuesday, July 23 at 9:30 A.M. There being no further business to come before the Board at this time, the Meeting was adjourned upon MOTION by Chairman Cohen/Mrs. Rayner at 9: 52 A.M. dmt APPROVE: Harold B. Coh n, Chairman David Augenstei , V' e Chairman Robert F. Selby ne Rayner • Absent: Marie Beary �sJ ATTEST: �/j DATE: