The Commerce City Council decided not to reappoint Greg Perry to the Commerce Planning Commission Monday night, but it took no action to name a successor.
Perry chairs the planning commission. His term expired in August.
Ward 4 councilman Clark Hill made the motion to re-appoint Perry, who also lives in Ward 4. He got a second from Mark Fitzpatrick, but Darren Owensby, Johnny Eubanks and Archie Chaney voted against the motion. Mayor pro tem Keith Burchett, who presided in the absence of Mayor Charles L. Hardy Jr., did not get to vote on the matter.
When Burchett asked for nominations to fill the position, there were none.
“We need to fill the vacancy,” Hill argued.
Instead, the council tabled action on filling the position until the October meeting. No one offered a reason for not reappointing Perry.
The planning commission makes recommendations to the city council on zoning and land use matters.
On another matter, the city council rejected the recommendation of the planning commission and voted unanimously to give Jacob Marble a variance in the zoning law so he can convert a garage at 382 Elizabeth Street into an apartment for his mother-in-law.
The code prohibits more than one dwelling unit on a residential lot, but the council granted the variance with the conditions that only one family unit can occupy the two dwellings and that the variance expires if Marble sells the property.
Marble explained that his mother-in-law has cancer and, as a result, lost her home to foreclosure. Further, his wife will soon be out of work and they’re expecting their first child.
“They’re (the branch of Community Bank and Trust where his wife works) closing the day the baby is due,” said Marble, a Jefferson teacher. “All four of us will be living on my income.”
Marble said the suggestion of connecting the two buildings with a breezeway, patio or other structure to make the garage part of the house was too costly. He also pointed to a nearby residence that has a garage apartment, and offered the opinion that his mother-in-law qualifies as a “hardship case.”
“God tells us to love one another as ourselves,” he told the council. “I just hope you gentlemen can find it in your hearts to display that love.”
Owensby made the motion to grant the variance.
