§45-2-261.10. Boards of adjustment.

The Baldwin County Commission shall provide for the appointment of boards of adjustment and the regulations and ordinances adopted pursuant to the authority of this subpart shall provide that the boards of adjustment, in appropriate cases and subject to appropriate conditions and safeguards, may make special exceptions to the terms of the ordinances and regulations in harmony with their general purposes and interests and in accordance with general or specific rules therein contained. Four district boards of adjustment shall be appointed by the Baldwin County Commission with the same boundaries as the county commission districts as currently provided for by law on April 26, 2006. If a planning district is in more than one commission district, the board of adjustment for the planning district shall be the board of adjustment for the county commission district which contains the greatest part of the planning district. Each board of adjustment shall consist of not less than three and not more than the same number of regular members as the number of planning districts within the jurisdiction of a board of adjustment. Each member of a board of adjustment shall be a qualified elector of a planning district within the territory of the respective board of adjustment. The board of adjustment for each county commission district shall be composed of at least one member from each planning district and shall reflect as nearly as practical the diversity of land use in the commission district. The initial appointment of members to boards of adjustment and the alternates provided by Act 2006-609 shall be from nominations by the boards of adjustment of the local planning districts on April 26, 2006. Not more than one member of a board of adjustment shall be directly engaged in real estate sales, development, or construction or any directly related field. The county commission shall consider the size of the territory which has formed planning districts under a board of adjustment district in determining the size of a board of adjustment. Each regular member shall be appointed for a term of three years in such a manner to serve staggered terms. A regular member shall continue service until a successor is duly appointed. The members of each board of adjustment shall elect a chair. In addition to the regular members provided for in this section, one alternate member for each regular member shall be appointed to serve on each board of adjustment only in the absence of the regular member for the place for which he or she was appointed an alternate and while serving shall have and exercise authority of a regular member. The alternate member shall have the same qualifications as a regular member and shall serve for a term concurrent with the regular member for the district. Members of each board of adjustment may be removed for cause by the Baldwin County Commission upon written charges and after a public hearing. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term of any member whose term becomes vacant. Each board of adjustment for each district shall adopt bylaws in accordance with the provisions of any ordinance or regulation promulgated pursuant to this subpart. Meetings of each board of adjustment shall be held at the call of the chair of the board and at such other times as each board may determine, provided that no board of adjustment shall meet less than once every three months on a day to be determined by the board. The chair, or in his or her absence, the acting chair may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the boards of adjustment shall be open to the public. The board shall keep minutes of its proceedings showing the vote of each member upon each question, or, if absent or failing to vote, indicating that fact, and shall keep records of its examinations and of other official actions, all of which shall immediately be filed in the office of the board and shall be a public record.

(Act 91-719, p. 1389, §11; Act 98-665, p. 1455, §1; Act 2006-609, p. 1672, §1; Act 2010-719, p. 1782, §1.)