Planning Division 203 South Troy Street Royal Oak, MI 48067 248.246.3280

Meeting Date: October 8, 2020

M E M O R A N D U M

DATE: September 9, 2020

TO: Zoning Board of Appeals

FROM: Planning Division

SUBJECT: Meeting Schedule & Religious Holidays for 2021

The city commission’s established policy on scheduling meetings and conflicts with religious holidays requires that “…all departments must make every effort to schedule meetings on days or evenings that will not interfere with major religious holidays.”

The board’s adopted rules of procedure establish its regular meeting on the second Thursday of each month at 7:00 p.m. The planning division reviewed these dates for 2021 and found the following possible conflicts with national and religious holidays:

• March 11, 2021 Fast of Ala (Baha’i) Lailat al-Miraj (Muslim) • April 8, 2021 Yom HaSho’ah, Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jewish) • May 13, 2021 Eid al-Fitr, End of (Muslim) • June 10, 2021 Ascension of Christ (Orthodox Christian) • November 11, 2021

Alternate dates may need to be chosen should the board wish to adjust the meeting dates of these months. It is possible given the number of religious holidays that alternate dates may also have conflicts. Lists of holidays, religious holidays and observances for next year can be found at the following links:

• https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?year=2021&country=1 • https://www.adl.org/media/14060/download • http://www.csee.org/?page=ReligiousCalendar

Conversely, the board may wish to adopt the following resolution:

Be it resolved, that the Royal Oak Zoning Board of Appeals, after reviewing the materials presented and weighing its options and with all due respect to the various religious affiliations, hereby reaffirms its meeting date and time for 2021 as being that established in its adopted rules of procedure or as they may be amended in the future.