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Draft 12.9.19 8 Randy Herman: I suppose we should go ahead and ask -- 1 2 Constance Lowe: If I may respond? If you want to pass an ordinance on flagpole height and flag size why grandfather 3 in the flagpole but not the flag? 4 5 Michael Harvey: It was a conscious decision from the elected officials that they wanted to address the flags themselves 6 and did not want to have an applicant that had gone through the cost of erecting a pole to have done it in vain. 7 8 Constance Lowe: But to erect a 24 sq.ft. flag on a 60 ft. pole. Even three 24 sq. ft. flags on a 60 ft. pole would look 9 rather ridiculous in my opinion. If you are going to regulate flagpole and flag size you are getting into the issue of 10 content.11 12 Michael Harvey: Mr. Chairman and Board members, what you have in your record is staff’s agenda abstract packet. 13 Petitioner’s Exhibit 1 is the zoning compliance permit issued for the flagpole. Petitioner’s Exhibit 2 with the receipt for 14 the permit and Petitioner’s Exhibit 3 outlines the installation cost for the actual pole, and then any sworn testimony 15 offered by the applicant and myself during these proceedings. 16 17 Leon Myers: I’ll say quickly that I think what Susan said is right. I don’t see evidence here of an error on the part of 18 staff in enforcing the ordinance and that is the purpose of this hearing. I empathize with the applicant. It’s a difficult 19 situation and sensitive issue. Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s much the Board can do other than follow its 20 procedures.21 22 Randy Herman: It seems that a lot of the issues raised by the applicant are about the wisdom of the policy that was 23 enacted by the elected Board of Commissioners and the constitutionality of the decision, and both of those are really 24 outside of the purview what we can decide. Our function is to enforce the ordinance that passed by the County 25 Commissioners.26 27 Constance Lowe: If my client’s flag is 24 1/2 sq.ft. that might be something that you guys can sink your teeth into but 28 not we have here. I apologize for taking so much of your time. 29 30 Randy Herman: If the zoning permit that had been issued mentioned on the size of the flag that would be something 31 that we could look at, but it doesn’t appear to me that it does. It seems to me that the zoning permit authorizes the 32 erection of a certain size flagpole and that flagpole is still grandfathered, but it doesn’t say anything about what size flag 33 would be on there. 34 35 Constance Lowe: It wasn’t the fact that the flagpole was going to be so high, it was the fact that it would be disturbing 36 so much land to put that size flagpole on. There were no flagpole ordinances before May 2018 and there were no 37 flagpole height and flag size restrictions before that. Within two months of my client having his flag erected, suddenly 38 the county is now hot to pass ordinances limiting the flagpole height and flag size. (Inaudible) I appreciate your time 39 thank you. 40 41 Randy Herman: Any other further discussion? 42 43 Barry Katz: I would like to make a comment. Since we’ve got this packet on page 54 at the bottom regarding 44 constitutionality, the US Supreme Court held government and imposed reasonable restrictions on its own place and in a 45 manner of protected speech provided the restrictions are narrowly tailored to serve a significant government interest 46 and without reference to content and (inaudible) sufficient and alternate means of communicating the message. They 47 do not cite the court case, but I suggest that you find that court case as part of your consideration if you’re going to 48 Superior Court. 49 50