Rushworth v. Hinckley Twp. Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 2021 Ohio 2230

Hinckley Township BZA granted two variances to John Sumodi after a July 22, 2020 public hearing; an error in the second variance prompted a special meeting on August 12, 2020 to correct the minutes.
Minutes for both the July 22 and August 12 meetings were signed and approved on August 12, 2020.
Adjacent neighbors Scott and Lisa Rushworth opposed the variance at both meetings and filed a notice of appeal in the Medina County Court of Common Pleas on September 10, 2020.
The Rushworths instructed the clerk to serve the BZA by certified mail on September 23; the BZA received the notice on September 28, 2020.
The BZA moved to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction because the appeal was not perfected within 30 days of the BZA’s final order as required by R.C. 2505.04 and 2505.07; the trial court granted dismissal.
On appeal, the Ninth District affirmed, holding the final order date was August 12, 2020, the Rushworths did not perfect the appeal with the administrative agency within 30 days, and their notice/notice-tolling arguments failed for lack of record support or legal authority.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the administrative appeal was perfected within 30 days under R.C. 2505.04/2505.07	Rushworths: appeal period did not begin until they received signed minutes on Sept. 10, so their Sept. 10 filing was timely	BZA: final order was entered Aug. 12 when minutes were signed/approved; appeal must be filed with the administrative body within 30 days	Court: Final order date was Aug. 12; notice to BZA was not received within 30 days (received Sept. 28); appeal was untimely and dismissal for lack of jurisdiction proper
Whether deficient notice of the Aug. 12 meeting under R.C. 519.15 tolled the 30-day appeal period	Rushworths: they received notice too late (Aug. 10) and were prejudiced; thus the appeal period should be tolled or meeting invalidated	BZA: even if notice was imperfect, Rushworths offered no authority that insufficent notice tolls the appeal period; the Aug. 12 meeting only corrected a clerical error and did not present new matters	Court: Rushworths failed to cite authority or record evidence showing tolling or prejudice; minutes show the Aug. 12 meeting merely corrected an error and did not restart the appeal period; argument rejected

Welsh Dev. Co. Inc. v. Warren Cty. Regional Planning Comm., 128 Ohio St.3d 471 (2011) (appeals from administrative bodies must be perfected in the manner prescribed by statute)
Exchange St. Assocs., L.L.C. v. Donofrio, 187 Ohio App.3d 241 (2010) (appellate review of jurisdictional dismissals is de novo)