HANCOCK COUNTY — Boards that make zoning and planning decisions for unincorporated parts of the county have a new deadline for when materials can be submitted to them.
The rule pertains to the Hancock County Area Plan Commission and Hancock County Board of Zoning Appeals.
The plan commission considers requests to rezone land and makes recommendations to the Hancock County Board of Commissioners. The board of zoning appeals makes decisions on variances and special exceptions property owners seek that are outside of what’s permitted under the property’s zoning designation.
The plan commission typically meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month and the board of zoning appeals on the fourth Thursday, although a complete schedule is on the planning department’s page of the county’s website, hancockcoingov.org.
Petitioners seeking decisions from the plan commission and board of zoning appeals have to have all of their materials in at least 10 days before their hearing date, as publication notices legally required to run in the Daily Reporter state those materials are available for the public to access.
Anyone wanting to respond to a petition who wants to submit materials for the plan commission or board of zoning appeals to consider must submit those materials by noon the Friday before the hearing.
Gregg Morelock of Greenfield-based Brand & Morelock and lawyer for the plan commission and board of zoning appeals, said the motivation for the deadlines was to give decision-makers enough time to study all of the materials as opposed to potentially receiving some on the night they’re to make a decision.
“It’s not intended to hogtie anybody, not the petitioners or the remonstrators,” Morelock said.
