00:00:04,770	Some because. You ready? Yep. Okay, guys, it’s 5:00. Let’s call the Board of Adjustments to order. And the first item we have on our agenda, I suppose, is roll call. Yeah. I’m ready. Board member Wangler here. Janssen here. Seifert here. Lee here. Clark. Here. Thank you. We do have a quorum today.

00:00:38,000	Um, second item we have on the agenda is. I suppose it’s really the first item is the approval of the minutes from the February 5th, 2026 meeting. Did you all have an opportunity to peruse those? We have a motion to approve. I’ll move to approve. Thanks. Do we have a second? Second? Any discussion? Um, let’s take the roll on that.

00:01:00,270	Board member Seifert. Yes. Lee? Yes. Wangler. Yes. Janssen. Yes. Chair. Clark. Yes. Okay. Moving along. The second item on our agenda is public comment. So that would be any public comment that we had on our previous meeting. I don’t see anyone present, and we don’t have anyone remote.

00:01:20,300	Duly. Okay, so we will move on to the third item. And that is receiving a summary of the Land development code. The new code. Okay. Chair Clark, board of adjustment.

00:01:45,870	So thank you for having us on the agenda here to discuss some changes to the zoning subdivision ordinance for the city of Bismarck, something that’s been in the works for a number of years. I’ve been talked about for even even longer than that. So we’re calling it the land development Code. Um, it is the same title 14 that you’ve been working with for the entire existence of the Board of Adjustment.

00:02:03,000	Uh, the it’s it’s a new pretty much we call it a rewrite. So all new language, although a lot of the concepts are remain the same. Really a lot of structural changes. And so we did not present this as a strike out and underline. There’s just too many of those changes.

00:02:14,900	So it was done as a repeal and replace. The city commission did approve this on May 26th, although becomes effective on October 1st. So there’s a little bit of an interim period where, uh, as staff, we have some time to get our act together in terms of the forms and applications and procedures and all of that, but

00:02:30,170	also for the applicants and the public to really understand what the implications are and maybe adjust some of their own plans accordingly. Uh, during this interim period, uh, applicants have an option of choosing, uh, one or the other as long as they pick it in its entirety, so they can use land

00:02:47,270	development code today if they wish to. Um, but they will have to after October 1st. Um, so, you know, the summary, um, I can be very brief on the summary.

00:03:06,930	Uh, there’s a lot more information on this, if you would like to the planning zoning commission, we had a presentation with them that was 45 minutes long with all sorts of charts and maps and all of that. I’ll spare you that and just focus on things that I think will affect you directly as as a board of adjustment.

00:03:21,730	Um, one thing to just to be aware of, though, the document is changed quite a bit and hopefully it’s a little bit more user friendly. Um, you know, we have, uh, a of use table, which I think of as sort of the best entry point into the land development code. Uh, most people are really trying to find out what type of use is allowed and where.

00:03:35,830	Uh, and so that’s the place to go for that. And once you get to the use table, uh, that introduce you to all the different districts and as well as any specific requirements that may apply just to that, use, uh, you know, actually have fun.

00:03:51,900	Fun fact is, even in 1953, we had a use table in our ordinance. So it’s really a tried and true method, but it kind of went away for a while. But now now we’re back.

00:04:07,770	Um, and so I think if I’d encourage you to take a look at that, if you get, um, applications and then also all of the dimensional standards are in separate tables as well. So and we have a table in the residential section and a table in the uh, mixed use and non-residential section.

00:04:22,170	Uh, that really shows in the columns all the districts and in, in the, in the rows, the setbacks and the lot sizes and all of those dimensional standards that really you end up seeing, uh, at your table when there’s a, when there’s a variance request, the, the variance process itself really doesn’t change at all. Um, that really hasn’t changed for the biggest since the beginning. It’s always extraordinary. Hardship has always been, uh, standard.

00:04:40,970	That doesn’t change all of the review criteria, the findings of fact that you’ll be looking for are all the same with, with one exception, there is a new type of variance that has been added. Uh, if if a property owner owns a historic property. So it’s in the National Register of Historic Places or, or has been deemed historic.

00:04:57,370	Uh, they may request a variance to keep the historic integrity of their property. If for some reason the zoning is contrary to that. So they don’t need to show extraordinary hardship, they may have an option that would be possible to meet the code. However, it would involve diminishing the historic integrity of their structure.

00:05:17,170	So we do have that in here as well. If that does, if that would come up that they could come to your table and ask for that permission. And in that case, you will be reviewing, uh, to to what degree this variance is necessary to, to meet their needs.

00:05:34,270	The, um, the one thing to that may impact you is the, the number of nonconformity has been reduced in this ordinance. One of our planners, Isaac Johnson, did a study and using GIS, he estimated how many nonconforming, uh, parcels there exist in the community today. And he found about 6700.

00:05:55,570	So this is these are parcels that are either too wide or too small, or the setbacks aren’t quite right, or, um, or in some cases, the uses are not compliant. Uh, but at least this number of parcels has at least one, um, problem with the, with the ordinance.

00:06:13,400	Uh, and so as a result of the changes to the land development code, he did he redid this analysis and found 890, um, nonconforming parcels. So it really a reduction of 85%. A lot of it has to do with some of the central areas of the community, especially north of downtown.

00:06:30,970	Um, you know, over the years, we’ve made changes to the ordinance to bring more of them into compliance, and we’ve softened some of our nonconforming standards. So if you’re a residents, you you can rebuild, uh, which has helped quite a bit.

00:06:46,330	Uh, this takes out a little bit of a step further, where a lot of them are brought into conformance with the ordinance through, uh, creating a new district in that area that is really designed to to match what’s existing in that area.

00:07:04,430	So, uh, so some of the variances you would have seen in the past that were really just involving somebody doing anything to a lot that’s too small or, uh, um, those will no longer come to their table because they’ll be conforming already. Um, now a lot of those have already gone away in the last few years from other changes we’ve made. But, um, this is another, as I said, a step in that direction. The, um, there are abilities in some cases for staff to make adjustments.

00:07:23,700	But, uh, for those they may do a stormwater or access management or some very technical criteria that would go to the often engineering department to make judgments on such things. Site triangles. If there’s certain cases where, um, where engineering standards could trump the standards of their of the ordinance, there’s the ability to do that administratively without having to come to, to the Board of

00:07:45,400	Adjustment or the Planning and Zoning Commission. Uh, so there is a section on that, but certainly the variance process is still there. It’s a very important, um, procedure for, for anybody.

00:08:01,030	We all we all understand that as, as much as we research this, as much as we, uh, have public input and stakeholder input, there are always situations that will not fit. So that’s this is an important escape valve. I will say another, uh, role of the Board of Adjustment is to hear appeals. The the appeal process also is pretty much exactly intact as it was before.

00:08:19,630	Uh, there are the appeals that you would hear appeals to administrative decisions. Uh, so if if myself or Brady, the building official or perhaps the city engineer were to make a a judgment and somebody would appeal that it would come to your table.

00:08:35,870	Um, the we do have a new code enforcement officer, which you I think you’ll be introduced to, uh, shortly. And so we do expect you may in the future. Um, see more of these if we are taking action.

00:08:53,930	The part of the enforcement process that is written into the land development code is that we will always write a letter stating, what is the interpretation of the code? Uh, to state why we believe as staff that they are in violation. And in that letter there’s always an appeal option. So they would have the option to appeal that letter to this board. And, and you’ll hear that.

00:09:08,930	And, and then for the appeals, as you I’m sure are aware, the criteria are a little bit different than a variance. It’s not extraordinary hardship. It’s whether you you believe the ordinance was accurately applied in that situation. So I just state that to say not much has changed, but that you may see more of those in the future.

00:09:22,730	Um, as people do get letters and opt to take that option. So I have if you have any questions, obviously it’s it’s quite a long document and I’ve really skimmed the surface, but I’m happy to try to answer them. You did such a good job. Okay. Summarizing. Thank you. Um, and then on other business we have an introduction.

00:09:58,400	Is that right? Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Daniel, for giving an overview of our new LDC. Um, part of some of the changes that we’ve had experienced in our office in the last couple of months is we have someone called Annie Hodges, who is the city’s first and only code enforcement officer, and you

00:10:16,230	may recognize her. She’s been with the city for a little while. She’s helped out on this board, but she brings a wealth of knowledge. Um, she’s fantastic. And we couldn’t be happier to have her. So do you want to come up and. Hi, hi. Hi. Board members chair. Clark.

00:10:34,900	Uh, you guys have seen me on the other side of that table? Um, previously, but I have stepped into the role of the city’s first code enforcement officer. Um, as of March 16th, uh, just under three months now. Um, still kind of, uh, learning processes and putting things together.

00:10:55,500	I want to make sure that things are done with fairness for all of our citizens. In Bismarck. Every property is unique. In every situation is different. And I really want to work with them as much as possible before anything would ever get to this point. Um, open to any questions that you may have, but, um, I’m excited to start working for the citizens.

00:11:14,800	Well welcome aboard. Has a new code affected your job much? Um, as of right now, it has not, because it won’t be in effect until October. Um, as new things are reported and come up.

00:11:33,500	Um, we do have this is what the current ordinance is, and I have to apply that. But I also know that this is what it’s going to be in October. Um, what what can we do? Um, and it depends.

00:11:52,830	Is this a life? Safety? Is this, you know, something else down the road? Is it something that, um, can wait? Because we know that it could be changing. How can I best work with someone? I feel like I’m a reasonable person. Everybody’s got life going on. Everybody’s just trying to do it the best that they possibly can with what they’ve been given. And that’s what we’re supposed to be here.

00:12:09,030	Um, they may not know what they don’t know. So let’s educate. Let’s help you find a solution. I don’t want to come at you with just problems. Um, and say, figure it out. This is this is what’s happening. This is why. How can we fix this? What can we do? Sounds like a reasonable approach. Thank you. Any questions for. Any. Thank you. Thank you.

00:12:35,400	I don’t think we have anything else in our agenda. Our next meeting will be July 2nd. Assuming that we receive variance requests for that meeting. Um, I think the deadline for that, for submitting those variances is next week.

00:12:55,830	So anyone who’s got July plans, you can touch base with the office and base it on on what comes in next week. Um, no further. Is there any other business that you want to bring before the board? No further business. I guess we’ll adjourn.