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![handle is hein.sag/sagia0009 and id is 1 raw text is: MUNICIPALITIES: Zoning; dual service on planning and zoning commission and board of
adjustment. Iowa Code §§ 414.6, 414.7, 414.8, 414.9, 414.12 (2005). A city ordinance
requiring common membership on the planning and zoning commission and board of adjustment
does not necessarily result in a defacto single board. As long as precautions are taken to ensure
that the two entities continue to operate as separate entities, common membership on the
planning and zoning commission and board of adjustment does not violate chapter 414 and is not
otherwise prohibited by Iowa law. (Smith to Rants, State Representative, 2-22-05) #05-2-1
February 22, 2005
The Honorable Christopher Rants
Speaker, Iowa House of Representatives
State Capitol
LOCAL
Dear Speaker Rants:
You have requested our opinion concerning whether a city's appointment of the same
members to both the city planning and zoning commission and board of adjustment violates
Iowa law. Your request states that, in effect, the council created a defacto single board. It is
our opinion that a city ordinance requiring common membership on the planning and zoning
commission and the board of adjustment does not necessarily result in creation of a defacto
single board. If appropriate administrative limitations on combining functions and meetings are
in place, such an ordinance does not violate Iowa law.
In April 2004, the city council of Sioux City amended existing city zoning ordinances to
require common membership of the planning and zoning commission and the board of
adjustment. The resulting ordinances provide, in pertinent part, that members of the board of
adjustment shall also be appointed to the planning and zoning commission and that members
of the planning and zoning commission shall also be appointed to the board of adjustment. On
April 22, 2004, shortly after the council acted, a city planner wrote to members of the preexisting
board of adjustment encouraging them to apply for appointment to the new board. The planner
characterized the ordinance as replacing the board of adjustment and planning and zoning
commission with a single board to cover both administrative functions.
The members of the defunct board of adjustment wrote this office to complain about the
city's action in creating a single board. They attached a copy of the ordinance and the April
22, 2004, letter from the city planner. Later, the city attorney wrote this office, stating that the
complaint from the members of the board of adjustment that the city had created a single board
was totally false. The city attorney indicated that [t]he City Council did not create a single
board to replace the two boards. What the City Council did do is retain two separate boards with
a common membership. The city attorney's characterization of the effect of the ordinance is](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagia0009&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)