AGO 1993-055.

• Case Date: December 20, 1993
• Court: Ohio

Ohio Attorney General Opinions 1993. AGO 1993-055. December 20, 1993OPINION NO. 1993-055The Honorable Gerald L. Heaton Logan County Prosecuting Attorney County Courthouse Bellefontaine, Ohio 43311 Dear Prosecutor Heaton: You have requested an opinion regarding the residence requirement for members of the township board of zoning appeals. Your letter presents the issue as follows:

One of our townships is primarily a resort area that consists of residents who only live there temporarily. Because of this, the Township Trustees contend that they can not find enough qualified residents living in the unincorporated and zoned area of the township to serve on the Board of Zoning Appeals. I have advised the Trustees that the potential members must either live here the majority of the time, or at least be registered to vote here in order to fulfill the resident requirement. Can your office offer any other alternatives?

Members of Township Boards of Zoning Appeals Must Be Residents of Unincorporated Territory in Township

R.C. 519.13 provides in relevant part, that "[i]n any township which adopts zoning regulations the board of township trustees shall appoint a township board of zoning appeals of five members who shall be residents of the unincorporated territory in the township included in the area zoned." (Emphasis added.) Thus, your question requires an examination of the meaning of the word "resident" as used in R.C. 519.13.

Type of Residence Required Is the Same as Required for Voting

The term "resident" is not defined in R.C. Chapter 519. As stated in Kelm v. Carlson, 473 F.2d 1267, 1271 (6th Cir. 1973), "[t]he word 'resident' has many meanings in the law, largely determined by the statutory context in which it is used." In interpreting statutes that require public officers to be residents of the particular districts or subdivisions they represent, it has long been held that the type of "residence" required is the same as that required for voting purposes. See, e.g., State ex rel. Nichols v. Vinton County Bd. of Elections, 20 Ohio St. 3d 1, 484 N.E.2d 690 (1985) (candidate for township trustee); State ex rel. Weber v. Hathaway, 28 Ohio C.C. Dec. 481, 482 (Cuyahoga County 1908) ("the residence which is required by this section of the statutes, for the purpose of maintaining the right to hold the office of councilman, is precisely the residence which is required to qualify the person as an elector").(fn1) Although the appointed position of member of a township board of zoning appeals is not a public office in the constitutional sense,(fn2) the language and the considerations of public policy embodied in R.C. 519.13 are substantially the same as the language and policy embodied in R.C. 503.24 and R.C. 503.241, the statutes requiring public officers of the township to be residents of their particular subdivisions. See generally State ex rel. Wilson v. Gulvas, 63 Ohio St. 3d 600, 602-03, 589 N.E.2d 1327, 1329 (1992) (holding that although R.C. 503.24 and R.C. 503.241 do not apply to members of the board of zoning appeals, the purpose of R.C. 519.13 is "to ensure that township zoning regulations are administered absolutely by the residents to whom they apply"). It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that...