Municipal Attorneys: I represent a small city in Southeastern Oklahoma who recently had two vacancies on the Planning and Zoning Commission. The individual the Mayor wished to nominate did not reside within the boundaries of the municipality. It is my understanding pursuant to Section 45-102 they must be a resident of the city limits. The Mayor indicated he was told by a previous City Attorney that they did not have to be residents, and I now find out that another current member is not a resident which leaves me without a quorum and pressing business. Would you please advise if I am correct in my insistence that they must be residents of the municipality. Sincerely: Johnny Sandmann Attorney at Law

Beth Anne authored a great article for the Bar Journal that is always a great place to start on P&Z questions: Municipal Planning and Zoning: An Overview of State Statutes and Standards for Review - Oklahoma Bar Association <https://www.okbar.org/barjournal/november-2022/childs_2/> I agree - the Planning Commissioners MUST be residents of the Municipality. Contrast the language in 45-102 (PC) with 44-101 (BOA) - the former expressly requires that the members of the PC be residents while the latter does not. Perhaps the logic (if one assumes the legislature acts logically when making laws) has to do with the powers of the BOA, which are more appellate in nature, as compared to PC which has a role in the local policy making. Regardless, the legislature required residency for PC but not BOA. Matt On Fri, Apr 4, 2025 at 3:28 PM Johnny Sandmann via Oama <oama@lists.imla.org> wrote: > Municipal Attorneys: > > > > I represent a small city in Southeastern Oklahoma who recently had two > vacancies on the Planning and Zoning Commission. The individual the Mayor > wished to nominate did not reside within the boundaries of the > municipality. It is my understanding pursuant to Section 45-102 they must > be a resident of the city limits. The Mayor indicated he was told by a > previous City Attorney that they did not have to be residents, and I now > find out that another current member is not a resident which leaves me > without a quorum and pressing business. > > > > Would you please advise if I am correct in my insistence that they must be > residents of the municipality. > > > > Sincerely: > > Johnny Sandmann > > Attorney at Law > > > > > -- > Oama mailing list -- oama@lists.imla.org > To unsubscribe send an email to oama-leave@lists.imla.org >