City attorney John Stell conducted an “education” session for the Commerce City Council on variances Monday night. That’s all well and good if the reason the city council grants every variance to come before it is ignorance, but what if it’s just a matter of the councilmen lacking backbones?
Variances are the bane of reasonable ordinances. Once a community accepts standards, whether on the size of signs or the setback requirements for side lots, they should be approved only in cases of hardship — which, in turn, should be explicitly defined.
The city council’s position has been to approve a variance if none of the six men around the table objects to the change. Each variance, when hardship is not an issue, amounts to an amendment to the ordinance. The next person seeking a similar variance has every bit as much right to it as the first — even if all six councilmen object.
The concept of the ordinance is that the city sets standards designed to protect property values. If there truly is no consensus on such standards, the city council should not attempt an ordinance, but if the council sets standards for signs, zoning or land use, it must stick to them.
The city’s planning commission, city staff and Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr. have all expressed frustration with the council’s willingness to ignore its ordinances. In future months, we’ll see if the root of the problem was a lack of understanding of the purpose of the ordinances or merely a lack of backbone by Commerce council members.
