ORD 11-05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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(a) Powers and duties of Board of Adjustments. The Planning Commission, which serves as the Board of Adjustments under this article pursuant to subdivision I1 of division 2 of this article, shall be the Board of Adjustments under this division., with the following powers and dunes: (1) The Board of Adjustments shall hear and decide appeals where itis alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative official in the enforcement or administration of this division. (2) The Board of Adjustments shall hear and decide requests for variances from the provisions of this division pursuant to the standards set forth in this section. In exercising these powers and dunes, the City Council shall follow the procedures, rules and regulations established in subdivision II of division 2 of this article. (b) Rules. The Board of Adjustments shall adopt rules for the conduct of business and may exercise all of the powers conferred on such boards by state law. (c) Variances generally. The Board of Adjustments may authorize upon appeal in specific cases such relief or variance from the terms of this division as will not be contrary to the public interest, and only for those circumstances such as hardship, practical difficulties or circumstances unique to the property under consideration, as provided for in subdivision II of division 2 of this article. In the granting of such variance, the Board of Adjustments shall clearly identify in writing the specific conditions that existed consistent with the criteria specified in subdivision II of division 2 of this article which justified the granting of the variance. (d.) In addition to the criteria set forth in Division 2, subdivision II of this article, the following additional variance criteria of the Federal Emergency Management Agency must be satisfied for the issuance of a variance for any property within any designated regulatory floodplain: 1. Variances shall only be issued upon a showing of good and sufficient cause, and a determination that failure to grant the variance would result in exceptional hardship to the applicant, and a 2. a determination the granting of a variance will not result in increased flood heights, additional threats to public safety, extraordinary public expense, create nuisances, cause fraud on or victimization of the public, or conflict with exiting local laws or ordinances. 3. Variances shall only be issued upon a determination that the variance is the minimum necessary, considering the flood hazard, to afford relief. 4. No Variance shall have the effect of allowing in any district uses prohibiting in that district, permit a lower degree of flood protection than the regulatory flood protection elevation for the particular area, or permit standards lower than those required by state law. (e) Hearings. The Land Development Staff shall submit by mail to the state Commissioner of Natural Resources a copy of the application for proposed variances sufficiently in advance so that the commissioner will receive at least ten days' notice of the hearing on the variance. (f) Decisions; restrictions on variances. In granting a variance, the Board of Adjustment may prescribe appropriate conditions and safeguards, such as those specified in Section 30- 1914(3), which are in conformity, with the purposes of this division. Violations of such conditions and safeguards, when made a part of the terms under which the variance is granted, shall be deemed a violation of this division punishable under Section 30 -1873. A copy of all decisions granting variances shall be forwarded by mail to the Commissioner