As a sitting Council member, Ms. Miller also serves as a Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) member.  Because there were three new Council members after the November 2021 election, the Council received training on zoning appeals on February 28, 2022.  One of the topics covered in that training was related to variance requests.  In order to legally approve a variance, a hardship has to exist for the applicant due to the uniqueness of the property; additionally, the applicant cannot have created the hardship.  Several questions were asked at this session regarding hardships and there was a brief discussion on the topic. 

Subsequently, on March 21, 2022, the ZBA met to consider a variance for a generator.  Generators were not permitted in side yards at the time.  The resident requested a variance because she did not want to put the generator in her backyard because it would have to sit on her paver patio and would obstruct her view.  When asked, the resident indicated that she installed the pavers; therefore, the hardship she was claiming was self-created.   This disqualified this variance request from being approved.  In addition, the resident complained about the cost of removing pavers to install the generator and her desire not to have the generator obstructing her view.  Cost to the resident and aesthetics are not valid reasons to approve a variance.  These disqualifying parameters were discussed, but Ms. Miller still voted to approve the variance.  Click here for more details from the meeting minutes and watch the video here.