Board of Adjustments

Meetings

The Board of Adjustment meets on the first Thursday of each month in the Commissioners Meeting Room in the Pratt Building located at 227 N. Main Street, Raeford. The Board of Adjustment meets only if there have been a request for a public hearing. If you are interested in attending a Board of Adjustment meeting it is recommended that you contact the Planning Department to see if a meeting is being held that month.

Members

The Board of Commissioners may provide for the appointment of a Board of Adjustment consisting of five members, each to be appointed for three years. All members shall be residents of the area under the zoning jurisdiction of Hoke County. Members may be removed for cause by the Board of Commissioners upon written charges and after a public hearing.

The Board of Commissioners may appoint two alternate members to serve on the board in the absence or temporary disqualification of any regular member or to fill a vacancy pending appointment of a member. Alternate members shall be appointed for the same term, at the same time, and in the same manner as regular members. Each alternate member, while attending any regular or special meeting of the board and serving on behalf of a regular member, has and may exercise all the powers and duties of a regular member.

The Board of Adjustment shall elect a chairman and a vice chairman from its membership and such other officers as the board deems best.

Current Members

Responsibilities

The Board of Adjustment is responsible for the following:

• Have the power and duty to hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is an error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by the zoning administrator in the enforcement of this ordinance
• Interpret zoning maps and pass upon disputed questions of lot lines or district boundary lines and similar questions that may arise in the administration of the ordinance
• Authorize, upon appeal where a literal enforcement of this ordinance will result in undue hardship, a variation or modification of any regulation or provision of the ordinance so that the spirit of the ordinance is observed, public safety and welfare secured, and substantial justice done
• Have the power and duty to serve as the Watershed Review Board. The Board shall retain the responsibility to grant variances from the regulations of Section 2.10 of this ordinance
• Have the power and duty to hear and decide requests for variances from Floodplain Overlay District requirements of Section 2.11 of this ordinance
• Have the power and duty to hear and decide requests for variance from the automobile graveyard, junk yard, and repair shop requirements as provided for in Section 11.9.7 of this ordinance

Voting Requirement

The Board of Adjustment, by a vote of four-fifths of its members, may reverse any order, requirement, decision, or determination of an administrative officer charged with enforcing this ordinance, or may decide in favor of the applicant a matter upon which the board is required to pass under the ordinance, or may grant a variance from the provisions of the ordinance.

Quasi-Judicial Procedures

• Vacant positions on the board and members who are disqualified from voting on a quasi-judicial matter shall not be considered members of the board for calculation of the requisite supermajority if there are no qualified alternates available to take the place of such members.
• A member of the Board of Adjustment shall not participate in or vote on any quasi-judicial matter in a manner that would violate affected persons' constitutional rights to an impartial decision maker. Impermissible conflicts include, but are not limited to, a member having a fixed opinion prior to hearing the matter that is not susceptible to change, undisclosed ex parte communications, a close familial, business, or other associational relationship with an affected person, or a financial interest in the outcome of the matter. If an objection is raised to a member's participation and that member does not recuse himself or herself, the remaining members shall by majority vote rule on the objection.
• The chairman of the Board of Adjustment or any member temporarily acting as chairman may in his official capacity administer oaths to witnesses in any matter coming before the board. All testimony before the board must be under oath and recorded. The Board of Adjustment may subpoena witnesses and compel the production of evidence. If a person fails or refuses to obey a subpoena issued pursuant to this subsection, the Board of Adjustment may apply to the General Court of Justice for an order requiring that its order be obeyed, and the Court shall have jurisdiction to issue these orders after notice to all proper parties. No testimony of any witness before the Board of Adjustment pursuant to a subpoena issued in exercise of the power may be used against the witness in the trial of any civil or criminal action other than a prosecution for false swearing committed on the examination. Any person who, while under oath during a proceeding before the Board of Adjustment, willfully swears falsely, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Decisions

All decisions by the Board of Adjustment shall be in writing and filed with the zoning administrator. A written copy of decisions on variance shall be sent by first class mail to the applicant within 10 days of the decision of the Board of Adjustment.

Rehearing

Upon the denial of the original application, or upon the denial of an application from which the rehearing has been conducted, a similar application may not be filed for a period of one year after the date of denial of the original application.

Appeals of the Board of Adjustment

Each decision of the board is subject to review by the Superior Court by proceedings in the nature of certiorari. Any petition for review by the Superior Court shall be filed with the clerk of Superior Court within 30 days after the decision of the board is filed, or after a written copy thereof is delivered to every aggrieved party who has filed a written request for such copy with the secretary or chairman of the board at the time of its hearing of the case, whichever is later.