As you please! Honestly it's been fun to do this research and work with the other departments but I'm worried because this agency has some pull and hasn't been happy with our process overall (and has let leadership know).
Currently we have a variance request to our development code's height limit for a public telecom agency. I am assigned the case - super straightforward matter, should be easy. I remember there is an airport nearby and have flashbacks to navigating big city codes/FAA circulars in a previous job, so I go digging. It turns out that when the airport was built (early 90s) there was a multiple-municipality board created to oversee the FAA-model-zoning-based height limits that the municipalities adopted together to control the surrounding area. Everything taller than 50 feet requires at minimum a permit from this multiple-authority board, in some cases multiple hearings for variances and permits between up to 3 boards. This is referred to opaquely in one section of the city code, but is not included in the city code anywhere (City archives reveal a letter from a lawyer that says including the rules in the city code may inhibit the multiple-authority group's ability to enforce the rules). The board met a total of 2 or 3 times, apparently.
Now, the agency is not happy about this initial variance to the city's code. It's been tough for my boss to get them to submit it at all and several appeals to higher authorities have already been made. We get confirmation from our higher-ups/legal that they do need to go through the multiple-authority board for approval, but it will take a couple months to reinstate the board since none of the member municipalities are aware of it and no other projects since the 90s have triggered the process.
Great! Leadership is stressed by this, so we'll just have dev services write them a letter and explain. Dev services is actually me, the only one in the office for the next couple weeks. So I have a letter requesting an additional variance and permit application and outlining a process adding a couple months minimum to the agency's project schedule, knowing I am the only one manning the telephone.