Oxford/Orion FISH received an early Christmas present from the township’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Nov. 19.
ZBA members voted 6-0 to recommend waiving the $800 application fee required for the board to hear FISH’s request for a variance to build a wheelchair ramp at the group’s food pantry in Thomas, a tiny hamlet just south of Davison Lake Rd.
‘For all the good work that you do and for all the work you’re gonna do, I think it’s probably warranted,? said ZBA Chairman Dan Myrick.
FISH provides emergency food and financial assistance (i.e. rent, utility bills) to needy individuals and families living in Oxford and Orion townships and portions of Addison and Oakland townships.
Being able to keep that $800 ‘will help us tremendously in just buying groceries so our shelves aren’t empty,? according to Pantry Coordinator Valarie Cass. (See sidebar story to the right.)
However, now it’s up to the township board to decide exactly how that fee would be waived. ‘We’ll have to see how the township board tackles the issue from here,? Myrick said.
‘It’s not as easy as you would think,? said ZBA member Sue Bellairs, who serves as a township trustee.
Application fees help pay for the ZBA to function and meet. Board members, of which there are seven, are each paid $95 per meeting except for the chairman who receives $105. The recording secretary is paid $100 per meeting.
If no application fee is paid, the township would have to pay the meeting cost because, by state law, ZBA members must be paid. But, according to Bellairs, the township can’t legally waive the fee for a group by paying the ZBA using tax dollars.
‘It isn’t a question of whether we would want to or not,? she explained. ‘By law, you can’t give tax dollars away. You can’t collect money to run an entity and then give it to another entity as a gift. You can’t do that.?
It was suggested that FISH’s request could simply be tacked on to a future ZBA agenda in which one or more applicants have already paid for the meeting to take place.
That would be fine ‘as long as it doesn’t cost the township money,? Bellairs noted.
ZBA member Buck Cryderman suggested board members could voluntarily donate their pay back to FISH. ‘I think we have to help FISH out one way or the other,? he said.
‘I am in support of waiving it if we can do it,? said ZBA member Jim Butler. ‘If it requires us to be paid, and we can make a voluntary contribution back, I’m willing to do that. Or if these folks can wait and tack it on with another agenda item . . . That’s probably the best of all worlds.?
Either way Butler noted he’d be ‘more than happy to support? FISH ‘for all the good work they do in the community.?