Board of Adjustment

Meetings

  • 2:00 PM
  • Fourth Wednesday of the month*
  • City Council Chambers
    125 N. Main
    Memphis, TN 38103
  • Staffed by the Office of Planning and Development; Secretary: Josh Whitehead
  • Click here to go to the Land Use Control Board page
*The Board meets the third Wednesday of November and December each year.

View Meetings

You can view meetings of the Board of Adjustment on the City of Memphis website by clicking on the "Government" tab at the bottom of the homepage, then "Watch Meetings Online" on the far right. To view archived meetings, go to "Other Organizations" at the bottom and then the blue "Board of Adjustment" tab in the middle of the page). To view meetings live, go to "Upcoming Meetings." You can also view Board of Adjustment meetings on the Division of Planning and Development's YouTube page.


Agendas & Minutes


Agendas are available prior to the meetings.
Most Recent Agenda | View All
Most Recent Minutes | View All


Application Form

Click here to download the fee schedule, upcoming deadlines and application forms for the Board of Adjustment.

Pending Applications

Click on this page to view pending applications with the Board.

Staff Reports

Click here to view the staff reports for the most recent Board of Adjustment cases.

Function & Authority


The Memphis and Shelby County Board of Adjustment hears five types of requests:

  1. variances from specific provisions of the Unified Development Code (the "UDC," which serves as the zoning code and subdivision regulations for the City of Memphis and unincorporated Shelby County) when exceptional circumstances and practical difficulties or undue hardships are demonstrated by the applicant;
  2. conditional use permits for a select number of uses articulated in Article 2 of the UDC;
  3. appeals of staff interpretation and administration of the UDC;
  4. extensions of zoning district boundaries by no more than 25 feet (based on official zoning atlas); and
  5. nonconforming use permits for grandfathered uses that are changing from a more intensive use to a less intensive use, per Sub-Section 10.2.5B of the UDC.
You can download the UDC here.

Established in 1925 by a Private Act passed by the Tennessee General Assembly, the Board of Adjustment is both the oldest appointed governmental body in Memphis and Shelby County and the oldest administrative zoning board in the State of Tennessee. Click here to download a memorandum that summarizes the history of the Board, which includes important pieces of legislation, case law and newspaper articles related to the Board. Click here for a history of the five-vote requirement for variance cases.
 

Annual Reports

2014 Annual Report
2015 Annual Report
2016 Annual Report
2017 Annual Report
2018 Annual Report
2019 Annual Report
2020 Annual Report

Case Files

The Zoning Atlas now contains a layer with all matters heard by the Board since 1926 (go to "Layer List" at the bottom of the page, then the "Zoning Entitlement" layer). In addition, this list contains a roster of these +/-14,000 cases. Please contact OPD staff for a PDF of a particular case file.

Rules of Procedure

Click here to download the current Rules of Procedure for the Board of Adjustment. Click here for the Board's original Rules of Procedure, as well as the minutes from the Board's first meeting on June 18, 1925.

Members

The Memphis and Shelby County Board of Adjustment is composed of eight members, each of whom serve three-year terms (click on the member's name to send an email):

Board of Adjustment Staff

Since July of 2001, the Board of Adjustment has been staffed by the Land Use Controls Section of the Office of Planning and Development. Names and contact information can be found at the bottom of this page.
BOA Members, 2016_thumb.jpg
Above: Board Members, January, 2017. Seated (from left to right): Portia Scurlock, Joy Doss and Vice Chair Madeleine Savage-Townes. Standing (from left to right): Chair Timothy Rainey, [former member] Daniel Dow, John Jackson III, [former member] Aaron Petree and Carson Claybrook. Not pictured: JT Malasri and Mary Baker.

Board Chairmen

City Board of Adjustment, 1925-1970


Wassell Randolph: July 16, 1925 - July 13, 1928
Edward B. Klewer: July 13, 1928 - May 27, 1936
David N. Harsh: May 27, 1936 - Dec. 20, 1954
John M. McGregor: Dec. 20, 1954 - Feb. 28, 1962
Perry Pipkin: Feb. 28, 1962 - Feb. 27, 1963; Feb. 24, 1965 - Feb. 23, 1966 and Feb. 12, 1968 - Feb. 26, 1969
Jack Bland: Feb. 27, 1963 - Feb. 26, 1964
John S. Palmer: Feb. 26, 1964 - Feb. 24, 1965; Feb. 22, 1967 - Feb. 12, 1968 and Feb. 25, 1970 - June 25, 1970
Roane Waring, Jr.: Feb. 23, 1966 - Feb. 22, 1967
James B. Adams: Feb. 26, 1969 - Feb. 25, 1970

County Board of Adjustment, 1931-1970


Edward B. Klewer: Sept. 24, 1931 - May 28, 1936
David N. Harsh: May 28, 1936 - Feb. 9, 1956
Walter M. Simmons: Feb. 9, 1956 - Aug. 13, 1959
Charles L. Heckle: Aug. 13, 1959 - June 11, 1970

Joint Board of Adjustment, 1970-present

Carl Langschmidt: July 27, 1970 - Jan. 27, 1971
Charles L. Heckle: Jan. 27, 1971 - March 22, 1972
John S. Palmer: March 22, 1972 - Jan. 24, 1973; Feb. 27, 1974 - Jan. 25, 1975; March 26, 1976 - Jan. 26, 1977; Feb. 27, 1980 - March 25, 1981 and Feb. 24, 1982 - May 25, 1983
James W. Campbell, Jr.: Jan. 24, 1973 - Feb. 27, 1974
Rufus Jones: Jan. 25, 1975 - May 26, 1976 and Jan. 26, 1977 - Feb. 27, 1980
W. Richard Hall: March 25, 1981 - Feb. 24, 1982; March 27, 1985 - Feb. 26, 1986; Feb. 25, 1987 - March 23, 1988; Aug. 23, 1989 - Feb. 28, 1990 and April 24, 1991 - Nov. 30, 1994
John S. Shepherd: May 25, 1983 - March 28, 1984 and Feb. 26, 1997 - June 25, 2008
Frank H. "Sonny" Colvett: March 28, 1984 - March 27, 1985; Feb. 26, 1986 - Feb. 25, 1987; March 23, 1988 - Aug. 23, 1989 and Feb. 28, 1990 - April 24, 1991
Lynda Raiford: Dec. 21, 1994 - Jan. 22, 1997 and June 25, 2008 - Jan. 23, 2013
Frank H. Colvett, Jr.: Jan. 23, 2013 - Jan. 1, 2016
Timothy Rainey: Jan. 1, 2016 - present

Board Secretaries

Lawrence P. Cockrill: June 17, 1925 - Sept. 22, 1948
W.M. Perkins: March 28, 1956 - March 14, 1957
Robert Miller: March 27, 1957 - Oct. 23, 1957
Harry F. Higgins: Nov. 14, 1957 - May 23, 1962
Tom Wellman: Nov. 28, 1962 - May 27, 1964
Fred W. Davis: June 11, 1964 - August 8, 1968
Robert Stacey: Sept. 9, 1968 - August 24, 1977
James Springfield, Jr.: Sept. 28, 1977 - Sept. 23, 1981
Anita Forrester: Oct. 28, 1981 - June 27, 2001
Mary Baker: July 25, 2001 - July 28, 2010
Chip Saliba: August 25, 2010 - Oct. 27, 2010
Josh Whitehead: Nov. 17, 2010 - present

The Secretary acts as the lead staff person to the Board. While there were separate City and County Boards up until 1970, the Boards always had a common Secretary and staff. For many years, L.P. Cockrill served as Secretary. He was styled alternatively as "Planning-Engineer" and "Engineer-Secretary," reflecting his formal training as an engineer. He died while in office in 1948. There were no formal appointments to the position of Secretary until 1956, when the Memphis and Shelby County Planning Commission was created. From 1956 to 1970, the role of Secretary was filled by various members of the Planning Commission. As Thomas Wellman's resignation indicates, the Planning Commission was somewhat short-staffed during this time period. After Fred Davis' retirement in 1968, Robert Stacey was appointed Secretary. He would serve as the first Secretary of the new Joint Board in 1970 (which was created by this ordinance-resolution). By the time the Office of Planning and Development was created to replace the Planning Commission, the Board of Adjustment Secretary and staff were no longer in the Planning Commission and instead placed under the Division of Public Service, which also housed the Building Department. This was the result of a joint ordinance/resolution passed by the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Quarterly Court in 1969. Robert Stacey retired in 1977 to focus on a company he had started in his spare time in 1963: Handy Maps. He was replaced by James Springfield, Jr., who resigned in 1981. Anita Forrester served as the Secretary for nearly 20 years until the Board was reunited with the planning department in 2001. As Deputy Director of Land Use Controls at the Office of Planning and Development, Mary Baker took over the role of Secretary until her retirement in 2010.