(a)   The Board of Zoning Appeals shall be composed of five (5) members appointed by the Mayor who shall exercise the powers given to the Board by the Charter.

   (b)   The members of the Board as fixed by Council shall receive a salary. Meeting attendance shall be in person. At the beginning of each calendar year the Mayor shall designate which member of the Board shall be Chairman of the Board for the ensuing year.

   (c)   Except as otherwise stated in this division, meetings of the Board shall be held in the City Hall at 9:30 a.m. on each Monday, except that when that morning is a holiday the meeting shall be held on the following Tuesday. The Board in its discretion and in accordance with this section, may hold meetings on days and times other than as set forth above, as may be necessary to carry out its duties.

   (d)   The Planning Director shall designate from the staff of the Planning Commission an employee who shall be the Secretary of the Board, and the staff of the Commission shall be available to the Board for the collection and presentation of facts and the serving of notices. The Secretary shall keep a permanent record of the attendance and the proceedings of the Board showing its action and vote on each case. A brief summary of such proceedings shall be published in the City Record. At the end of each calendar year the Secretary shall make an annual report of the work of the Board.

   (e)   Any decision or determination of the Commissioner of Building or the Commissioner of Housing or of any other administrative officer relating to the provisions of this Zoning Code may be appealed to the Board by any person deeming himself or herself aggrieved or adversely affected by such decision or determination.

   (f)   No appeal shall be entertained unless it is filed in the office of the Board on a form to be provided by the Board, with all data required in such form.

   (g)   The presence of three (3) members of the Board shall constitute a quorum and a concurring vote of three (3) members of the Board shall be necessary to reverse or modify any order, requirement, decision or determination of the Commissioner of Building or the Commissioner of Housing or any other administrative officer, or to decide in favor of the appellant any matter upon which the Board is required to pass, or to permit a variance or special exception from a requirement of this Zoning Code.

   (h)   No action of the Board shall be taken on any case until after proper notice has been given and public hearing has been held.

   (i)   Except as provided in Section 329.01(k), proper notice of a hearing before the Board shall be, besides public notice, written notice mailed to the owner or his or her agent at the address given on the appeal and, so far as it is practicable, written notice to directly affected property owners or their agents given at least seven (7) days prior to the date of such proposed hearing in such manner as the Board may, by its rules, prescribe.

   (j)   A copy of all decisions or determinations of the Board shall be transmitted to the appropriate administrative officer. Any permit issued by the Commissioner of Building or the Commissioner of Housing in pursuance of any decision or determination of the Board shall have incorporated thereon any special conditions of such permit prescribed by the Board.

   (k)   In any urgent case requiring emergency action, the Board of Zoning Appeals may, by a waiver signed by a majority of the Board, reduce the time requirement of Sections 329.01(i) and 325.55 from seven (7) days to three (3) days.

(Ord. No. 1122-2023. Passed 10-23-23, eff. 10-25-23)

   (a)   The Board of Zoning Appeals shall have such duties and powers as are set forth and as limited in the Charter and in this Zoning Code.

   (b)   The Board shall adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions of this Zoning Code and to exercise the powers and jurisdiction conferred upon it by the Charter and this Zoning Code.

   (c)   Any member of the Board shall have the power to subpoena and require the attendance of witnesses, administer oaths, compel testimony, and the production of books, papers and other evidence pertinent to any issue before the Board.

   (d)   The Board shall hear and decide appeals from any order, requirement, decision or determination of the Director of Building and Housing or other administrative officer relating to zoning, including the refusal, granting or revocation of permits by the Commissioners. The Board shall also hear and decide all matters referred to the Board for decision, permit or other authorization, by provisions of this Zoning Code. Within its powers the Board may reverse or affirm wholly or in part or modify, the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from, and shall make such order, requirement, decision or determination as in its opinion ought to be made under the circumstances, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer from whose decision the appeal is taken.

   (e)   Final orders, adjudications or decisions of the Board of Zoning Appeals may be appealed by the City or any proper party, as provided in appropriate provisions of RC Chapters 2505 and 2506.

(Ord. No. 1238-06. Passed 8-9-06, eff. 8-16-06)

   Appeals from final decisions of the City Planning Commission that are appealable to the Board of Zoning Appeals, shall be made within thirty (30) days of the decision.

(Ord. No. 1265-07. Passed 12-10-07, eff. 12-14-07)

   (a)   Conditions Requiring Variances. Where there is practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship in the way of carrying out the strict letter of the provisions of this Zoning Code, the Board of Zoning Appeals shall have the power, in a specific case, to vary or modify the application of any such provisions in harmony with the general purpose and intent of this Zoning Code so that public health, safety, morals and general welfare may be safeguarded and substantial justice done.

   (b)   Limitation of Variance Powers. Such variance shall be limited to specific cases where:

      (1)   The practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship inheres in and is peculiar to the premises sought to be built upon or used because of physical size, shape or other characteristics of the premises or adjoining premises which differentiate it from other premises in the same district and create a difficulty or hardship caused by a strict application of the provisions of this Zoning Code not generally shared by other land or buildings in the same district;

      (2)   Refusal of the variance appealed for will deprive the owner of substantial property rights; and

      (3)   Granting of the variance appealed for will not be contrary to the purpose and intent of the provisions of this Zoning Code.

   (c)   Data on Which Variance is Based. When appealing for a variance, the appellant shall state and substantiate his or her claim that the three (3) conditions listed under division (b) of this section exist, and the Board shall make a finding on each of the three (3) conditions as they apply in each specific case as a prerequisite for the granting of the variance.

   (d)   Variance from Use Regulations.

      (1)   The Board may permit, in any use district, the extension of a building or use existing on the effective date of the use regulations of the area, into adjoining land in a more restricted district, which land was under the same ownership on the effective date, under such conditions as will safeguard the character of the more restricted district.

      (2)   The Board may permit the extension or enlargement of a building or use, or the erection of an additional building, upon premises lawfully occupied by such building or use on November 5, 1929, or lawfully occupied on the date of any amendment or supplement to the Zoning Code approved by the electorate on that date, or to this Zoning Code, creating a more restricted use district, and in which more restricted use district the building or use thereby became a nonconforming building or use, provided that such extension, enlargement or additional building shall not tend to perpetuate a nonconformity which otherwise might be discontinued at an earlier date.

      (3)   The Board may permit, in any use district, such modification of the use regulations as may be necessary to secure an appropriate development of a lot adjoining buildings or uses existing on the effective date of the use regulations and not conforming to such regulations, or adjoining a less restricted use district along a side lot line, provided that the use permitted by such modification shall not extend across any street or alley from such nonconforming uses or such less restricted use district, nor allow uses other than those listed in this Zoning Code as permitted in the use district next lower in order of restrictiveness to the district in which such lot is located.

   (e)   Variance from Area, Yard and Court Regulations.

      (1)   Notwithstanding the provisions of divisions (a), (b), and (c) of this section, the Board may permit such modification of the area regulations or of regulations affecting yard or court dimensions as may be necessary to secure an appropriate improvement of an existing lot of record that is of such restricted area that it cannot be improved without such modification and, further, that such existing lot of record is located in an area characterized by yards, courts or lot areas of similar size or dimensions.

      (2)   The Board may permit such modification of the regulations affecting yard and court dimensions as may be necessary to permit the use of an existing building for a purpose for which such regulations require greater yards or courts than those existing on the premises, provided the Board determines that such existing yards or courts will provide adequate light and ventilation for the spaces lighted or ventilated thereby and will not tend to create an unhealthful or unsanitary condition under the proposed conditions of arrangement, use and occupancy.

   (f)   Variance from Height Regulations.

      (1)   The Board may permit the erection of an addition to an existing building to the same height above the grade level as such existing building where such addition is essential to the completion of such building as originally planned.

      (2)   The Board may permit the extension upward of a building existing on November 5, 1929, by the construction of additional stories above the height limit prescribed in this Zoning Code if the original plans approved by the Commissioner of Building and Housing provided for such additional stories and such building was actually designed and constructed to carry such additional stories.

   (g)   Variance from Distance Regulations. The Board may vary the required distance from property in a residence district specified in Sections 335.02 and 337.01 to 337.23, where such variance will not adversely affect the neighborhood, or the safety, health and general welfare of the occupants of the building, provided proper notice of the proposed variance has been given to the owners of the property on the same street and those in the same block within a distance of two hundred (200) feet from the premises of the proposed use, and a public hearing has been held.

(Ord. No. 2048-95. Passed 12-18-95, eff. 12-26-95)

   (a)   Nonconforming Uses That Did Not Previously Exist. Except as provided under Sections 329.03 and 329.06, the Board of Zoning Appeals shall have no power to authorize as a variance the establishment of a nonconforming use where none previously existed.

   (b)   Parking Requirements. The Board shall have no power to authorize as a variance the construction or use of any new building which does not fulfill the parking requirements of this Zoning Code, nor the remodeling or changed use of any existing building, whether previously conforming to the parking requirements or not, which remodeling or changed use would increase or create a nonconformity through an increase in number of dwelling units or in any other way, unless the Board determines that lack of parking space upon the premises of such building will not have a seriously adverse effect upon traffic conditions, or upon the neighborhood.

   (c)   Encroachment Beyond Required Setback Building Line.

      (1)   The Board shall have no power to authorize as a variance the location of any building or other structure nearer the street line than a required setback building line unless the depth or width of the lot on which such building or other structure is to be erected, as recorded on the effective date of this Zoning Code, is sufficiently less than the depth or width of the other lots in the same block as to create a hardship not shared by other lots subject to the same setback building line, or unless there exists a building extending beyond such required setback building line on the same side of the same block within one hundred fifty (150) feet from either side lot line of the lot in question. In the latter case, any encroachment, except projecting signs, permitted by the Board, shall not extend beyond a diagonal line drawn from the near corner of any building extending beyond the required setback building line and located within such distance, to a point on the required setback building line one hundred fifty (150) feet from such corner; or, where the width of the lot in question is sixty (60) feet or less and there are adjoining buildings extending beyond the required setback building line on both sides of the lot in question, beyond the average encroachment of such adjoining buildings, whichever the Board deems preferable. Where such encroachment is permitted beyond a specific building line the Board shall require, as a condition of such permit, that the encroachment be removed by the owner without cost to the City when ordered to do so by the City. No encroachment permitted under the provisions of this section shall exceed one (1) story in height except that where buildings on adjoining premises on both sides and within one hundred fifty (150) feet of the side lines of the lot in question extend beyond the required setback building line, the height of such permitted encroachment may be the height of the lower of the two (2) adjoining encroachments.

      (2)   In determining the permitted projection of a projecting sign beyond the building line, the Board may establish that the limit of permissible encroachment beyond a setback building line defined in subsection (c)(1) hereof shall be the building line mentioned in Section 3113.18(a)(1).

   (d)   Special Exceptions Authorized by the Board. The Board may, after public notice and hearing and subject to appropriate conditions and safeguards, determine and grant such special exceptions to the provisions of this Zoning Code as are specifically mentioned in this Zoning Code as subject to determination by the Board as a matter of original jurisdiction, provided such special exceptions are in conformity with the purpose and intent of this Zoning Code and in conformity with the standards for such exceptions established in this Zoning Code.

(Ord. No. 1538-86. Passed 5-18-87, eff. 5-21-87)

   Any applicant submitting an application to the Board of Zoning Appeals for any hearing before the Board or for any action by the Board shall include payment in full of the fee listed in the following schedule:

   (a)   Exceptions to or Variances from the Application of Ordinances Governing Zoning:

 

   (b)   Other:

 

 

   (c)   Miscellaneous:

 

 

   If an application listed in this section could be construed to fit in more than one (1) fee classification, then the higher fee shall be paid.

(Ord. No. 2393-02. Passed 2-3-03, eff. 2-3-03)

   The Board of Zoning Appeals may, after public notice and hearing and subject to appropriate conditions and safeguards, permit in undeveloped sections of the City for not more than a two (2) year period a building or other structure or use which does not conform to the use regulations of the district in which it is to be located. Such permit may be renewed for two (2) year periods when the general conditions of the neighborhood have remained practically unchanged.

(Ord. No. 2204-A-48. Passed 12-19-49, eff. 1-29-50)

   (a)   Upon application, the Commissioner of Building and Housing may issue temporary use permits in any use district to charitable organizations sponsoring festivals and open-air carnivals. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Zoning Code, issuance of such a permit shall constitute a temporary waiver of use restrictions, yard requirements, heights regulations, and accessory off- street parking requirements. No permit shall be issued to the same charitable organization for a festival or open-air carnival at any given premises more frequently than twice per year. No permit issued pursuant to this section shall be for longer than five (5) consecutive days.

   (b)   As used in this section, “charitable organization” means any tax exempt religious, educational, veteran’s, fraternal, service, nonprofit medical, volunteer rescue service, volunteer firemen’s, senior citizen’s, youth athletic, or youth athletic park organization. An organization is tax exempt if the organization is, and has received from the internal revenue service a determination letter that is currently in effect, stating that the organization is, exempt from federal income taxation under subsection 501(a) and described in subsection 501(c)(3), 501(c)(4), 501(c)(8), 501(c)(10), or 501(c)(19) of the Internal Revenue Code.

(Ord. No. 877-77. Passed 5-18-87, eff. 5-28-87)