The Truesdale Board of Aldermen announced the creation of the city’s board of adjustment at their April 23 meeting. The announcement came after a resident, Charlie Morrow, pointed out to city officials that any municipalities with a planning and zoning commission are statutorily required to appoint a board of adjustment as well. 

“We needed, through Missouri statutes, to have a board of adjustment, a group that would be an oversight in a way, almost like an arbitration for issues that might arise,” said Cannon. “Most municipalities hardly ever use those boards but when they do they’re necessary to have in place.”

Boards of adjustment operate independently of regular city boards including the aldermen and P&Z commission. They offer rulings on zoning changes and variances outside of those two boards and also serve as a check on their decisions and only meet as needed. 

According to state statutes the board also has the power “To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative official.”

Mayor Jerry Cannon announced the city had chosen Josh Hartley, Robert Green, MaryLou Rainwater, Christine Hedding and Matt Dabbs to sit on the board. Per statute, members of the board of adjustment are not allowed to sit on either the board of aldermen or P&Z commission. 

Their appointments were approved unanimously. 

“I think we have a really good cross-section of people with integrity that are going to be very fair-minded and if the city’s in the right they’re gonna tell us but if we’re not they’re gonna tell us that too, and that’s really what this board is about,” said Cannon. 

Morrow also raised the question of whether the city was going to appoint alternates since the statute requires three of them. Cannon said the city is currently looking for candidates and will appoint them at the next board meeting. 

The first order of business for the new board of adjustment will be a variance for a temporary fence permit for Clarkson Construction at the former Good Game Sports Park property. 

The Improve I-70 contractor has been working with the city to sort out necessary permits for their planned office and equipment storage facility as they start work on the interstate. 

Under Truesdale’s zoning code, fences are not allowed to extend outside the building line in C-2 commercial zoning. Since Clarkson’s fence encircles the entire property to protect their equipment from theft they require a variance for their fence permit. 

City Clerk Elsa Smith-Fernandez pointed out the city has granted similar variances to businesses in the past. 

“For commercial (zoning) it’s not necessarily uncommon as there was a variance issued for Green Gardens to enclose all their plants up front to prevent theft and damage,” said Smith-Fernandez. 

Morrow took issue with the work underway at the property citing a recommendation from city consultant John Brancaglione for a stop work order if Clarkson remained out of compliance. 

“So I’ll ask the question again, they’re operating illegally with no permits, why is it being permitted,” said Morrow. 

Those recommendations were submitted prior to the April 16 planning and zoning meeting where the city and Clarkson reached a tentative agreement to work on resolving those permitting issues while work begins on I-70. 

Aldermen did push back on Morrow’s concerns saying residents’ feedback were being addressed and they were working to find a solution to bring in a business that would be beneficial to the city in a fashion that was acceptable to residents. 

“We are in a learning process as a growing city, there are mistakes that are gonna be made but the one mistake I think that’s gonna be avoided now is a lot of this ‘promises made, promises not kept’ by property owners because of planning and zoning,” said Alderman Mike Thomas. “We have the ability to hold their feet to the fire on this.”

Moving forward the board of adjustment will rule on the variance which will then go before the planning and zoning commission and board of aldermen before final approval.