She reminded other commissioners that the board’s decisions generally are final
With a unanimous vote during their regular meeting on Jan. 27, the Sarasota County commissioners agreed to readvertise for applications for an open seat on the county’s Board of Zoning Appeals.
Commissioner Teresa Mast suggested the action.
“As important as this is,” Mast told her colleagues, she wanted to see more applicants from which to choose.
That board, she pointed out, does not act in an advisory capacity. “This is one of the boards that makes very decisive decisions that actually do not come in front of us.” The votes of the Board of Zoning Appeals determine how property owners can proceed, she noted. “I’d like to draw more applicants in.”
The county website explains that the Board of Zoning Appeals hears “appeals concerning interpretation or administration and for variances under the zoning regulations.”
It has seven members who serve for three-year-terms. each of them must have been a county resident for at least two years. The members also “[m]ay not hold elective office or be employed by any Sarasota County municipality or county government,” the webpages note, and they are required to file financial disclosure forms with the Florida Division on Ethics.
The staff memo regarding the open seat, included in the Jan. 27 County Commission agenda packet, said that the vacancy had resulted from the expiration of the term of Sarah Chaffee. The opening, it adds, was advertised on the county website, “soliciting interested citizens for appointment.”
“I see we had just two applicants for this [open seat],” Chair Ron Cutsinger responded to Mast during the Jan. 27 discussion.
The applicants were as follows:
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Levi Duyn. This image is cropped from a photo on Duyn’s Facebook page. Levi Duyn of Venice, who noted in his application that he is a remodeling contractor with Kitchen and Bath on the Isle in Venice. In response to the question about his interest in serving on the board, he wrote, “To be more involved with my community.” He added that he has a Florida Builders license.
- Alex Rydel of Venice, who is a retiree, he noted in his application. Replying to the question about why he wanted to serve on the Board of Zoning Appeals, he wrote, “To be an advocate for the average citizen.” He added that he had served on the Venice Board of Construction & Appeals, and he also had been certified as a housing counselor by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Further, he wrote, he has worked as a mortgage broker in the county.
When Cutsinger asked whether any of the other commissioners had a comment, or whether Mast wanted to go ahead a make a motion to direct staff to readvertise the opening.
She had not made a motion at the outset, Mast responded, because she wanted to learn whether any of her colleagues wanted to address her suggestion.
After none of the other board members offered a comment, she made the motion for readvertisement of the position, and Commissioner Joe Neunder seconded it. The motion passed unanimously.