A Zoning Board of Appeals is hereby established in accordance with the provisions of the statute applicable thereto. Regular meetings of the Zoning Board shall be held at such time and place within the Village as the Zoning Board may determine. Special meetings may be held at the call of the chairman or as determined by the Zoning Board. Such chairman or, in his absence, the acting chairman may administer oaths and compel attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the Zoning Board shall be open to the public. Such Zoning Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member on every question. If any member is absent or fails to vote, the minutes shall indicate such fact. The Zoning Board shall adopt its own rules of procedure not in conflict with any statute or this Chapter.

(Ord. No. 1525, § 18.1, 6-14-2007)

Appeals to the Zoning Board of Appeals may be taken by any person aggrieved or by an office, department, board or bureau of the Village. Such appeal shall be taken within 20 days from the date of the action appealed from, by filing with the Building Commissioner and with the Zoning Board of Appeals a notice of appeal, specifying the grounds thereof. The Building Commissioner shall forthwith transmit to the Zoning Board all papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken. An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the Building Commissioner certifies to the Zoning Board, after the notice of appeal has been filed with him, that by reason of facts stated in the certificate, a stay would, in his opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. The Zoning Board of Appeals shall fix a reasonable time for hearing the appeal and give due written notice thereof to the parties and decide the same within a reasonable time. The Zoning Board may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the use, requirement, decision or determination as, in its opinion, ought to be made in the premises.

(Ord. No. 1525, § 18.2, 6-14-2007)

(a)

The Zoning Board of Appeals shall hear and decide appeals from any order, requirement, decision or determination made by the Building Commissioner. It shall also hear and decide all matters referred to it or upon which it is required to pass under this Chapter. The Zoning Board may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify or amend the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from, to the extent and in the manner that the Zoning Board may decide to be fitting and proper in the premises. To that end, the Zoning Board shall also have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken.

(b)

When a property owner shows that a strict application of the terms of this Chapter relating to the use, construction or alteration of buildings or structures, or to the use of land, imposes upon him practical difficulties or particular hardship, then the Zoning Board may make such variations of the strict application of the terms of this Chapter as are in harmony with the general purpose and intent. When the Zoning Board is satisfied, under the evidence heard before it, that a granting of such variation will not merely serve as a convenience to the applicant, but is necessary to alleviate some demonstrable hardship so great as to warrant a variation in the following instances:

(1)

To permit the extension of a district where the boundary line of a district divides a lot in single ownership as shown of record.

(2)

To permit the reconstruction of or repair to a nonconforming structure utilized for a nonconforming use which has been destroyed or damaged to an extent of more than 50 percent of its value, by fire, an act of nature, or other accidental cause, where the Board shall find some public necessity requiring the reconstruction or repair of the structure as a nonconforming structure.

(3)

To make a variance, by reason of an exceptional situation, surroundings or condition of a specific piece of property or by the reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific piece of property of record, or by reason of exceptional topographical conditions the strict application of any provision of this Chapter would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties or particular hardship upon the owner of such property and amount to a particular confiscation of property, as distinguished from a mere inconvenience to such owner; provided such relief can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without substantially impairing the general purpose and intent of the comprehensive plan, as established by the regulations and provisions contained in this Chapter.

(4)

To interpret the provisions of this Chapter where the street layout actually on the ground varies from the street layout as shown on the district map fixing the several districts.

(5)

To waive the parking requirements in the commercial or industrial districts whenever the character or use of the building is such as to make unnecessary the full provision of parking facilities or where such regulations would impose an unreasonable hardship upon the use of the lot, as contrasted with merely granting an advantage or convenience.

(6)

To permit a building to be erected, reconstructed, altered or enlarged so that the building lines will extend beyond the distance specified in this Chapter into side yards or into front yards, such variance may not be granted unless:

a.

There is a building in the block which extends beyond the distance from the front street line specified in this Chapter, in which case the building line may be permitted to extend as near to the front street line as such nonconforming building;

b.

The lot is irregular in shape, topography or size; or

c.

The street line of the lot is directly opposite the street line of a lot which is irregular in shape, topography or size.

(7)

To permit in any district such modifications of the requirements or the regulations of this Chapter as said Zoning Board may deem necessary to secure an appropriate development of a lot, where adjacent to such lot on two or more sides, there are buildings that do not conform to the regulations of the district.

(8)

Nothing in this Article contained shall be construed to give or grant to the Zoning Board the power or authority to alter or change this Chapter or the District Map, such power and authority being reserved to the Village Board. The Zoning Board may impose such conditions and restrictions upon the use of the premises benefited by a variance as it may deem necessary. The Zoning Board shall make no such variation, except in a specified case after an application for a permit has been made to the Building Commissioner and after duly advertised public hearing held by the Zoning Board as prescribed by statute. The notice of hearing shall contain the address or location of the property for which the variation or other ruling by the Zoning Board is sought, as well as a brief description of the nature of the appeal. In order to partially defray the expenses of the public hearing involving variances, the applicant shall pay a nonrefundable sum in an amount established from time to time by the Village Board, to the Village at the time of the filing of the appeal for the variance.

(Ord. No. 1525, § 18.3, 6-14-2007)

All final administrative decisions of the Zoning Board of Appeals rendered under the terms of this Article shall be subject to judicial review, pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Review Act, 735 ILCS 5/3-102 et seq., and all amendments and modifications thereof and the rules adopted pursuant thereto.

(Ord. No. 1525, § 18.4, 6-14-2007)

Prior to any hearing on an appeal, variance request or any other matter relating to a specific parcel of property pursuant to this Article, the Zoning Board shall send a notice by U.S. mail to each person who owns property within 600 feet of the property for which the appeal is taken or the variance is sought. The notice shall describe the property in question and the relief sought, and shall be mailed to the owners at the address to which the most recent tax bills were mailed. The applicant shall pay the Village's reasonable costs for the mailing in addition to the application fee.

(Ord. No. 1525, § 18.5, 6-14-2007)