(a)

Board of adjustment. A board of adjustment is hereby established.

(b)

Composition of board of adjustment. The board of adjustment shall consist of five (5) members who are property owners in the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, each to be appointed for a term of two (2) years and removable for cause by the city council upon written charges and after public hearing. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term of any member whose term becomes vacant. The board of adjustment shall also consist of four (4), or less, alternate members, each of whom shall possess equal qualifications and also be duly appointed for two-year term and be removed for cause in the above manner provided by the City Council of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, and which alternate members shall serve in the absence of one (1) or more regular members when requested to do so by the city manager.

(c)

Rules of the board of adjustment. The board shall adopt rules in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance. Meetings of the board shall be held at the call of the chairman and at such other times as the board may determine. Such chairman, or in his absence, the acting chairman, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the board shall be open to the public. The board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be immediately filed in the office of the board and shall be a public record. The concurring vote of four (4) members of the board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision, or determination of any administrative official, or to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter upon which it is required to pass under any such ordinance, or to effect any variation in such ordinance.

(d)

Appeals. Appeals to the board of adjustment may be taken by any person aggrieved or by any officer, department, board or bureau of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, affected by any decision of the building inspector. Such appeal shall be taken within a reasonable time, as provided by the rules of the board, by filing with the officer from whom the appeal is taken and with the board of adjustment a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof, and by paying a filing fee of one hundred dollars ($100.00) to the Tax Collector of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas, at the time the notice is filed, which shall be credited to the general fund of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the board all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken. An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action appeal from, unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the board of adjustment after the notice of appeal shall have 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. In such cases, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order which may be granted by the board of adjustment or by a court of record on application or notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken and on the cause shown.

The board of adjustment shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal, giving public notice thereof, as well as due notice to the parties in interest, and decide the same within a reasonable time. Upon the hearing any party may appear in person or agent or by attorney.

(e)

Powers of the board of adjustment. The board of adjustment shall have the following powers:

(1)

To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is an error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by any administrative official in the enforcement of this ordinance.

(2)

When a property owner can show that a strict application of the terms of this ordinance relating to the use, construction or alteration of buildings or structures or the use of land will impose upon him practical difficulties or particular hardship, the board may consider and allow variations of the strict application of the terms of this ordinance if the variations are in harmony with the general purpose and intent of this ordinance, and the board is satisfied, under the evidence heard by it, that a granting of the variation will not merely serve as a convenience to the applicant but will alleviate some demonstrable hardship or difficulty so great as to warrant a variation from the comprehensive plan by this ordinance created.

(3)

The board may authorize a variance where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific piece of property of record at the time of the adoption of this ordinance or by reason of exceptional topographical conditions or other extraordinary or exceptional situation or condition of a specific piece of property, the strict application of a provision of this ordinance would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties and particular hardship upon the owner of the property and amount to a practical confiscation of the property as distinguished from a mere inconvenience to the owner, provided the variation 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 ordinance.

(4)

Special exceptions. When in its judgment the public convenience and welfare will not be substantially or permanently injured, the board of adjustment may, in a specific case, after public notice and hearing and subject to appropriate conditions and safeguards, authorize special exceptions to the regulations herein established as follows:

i.

To permit a transitional use between a business or industrial district and a dwelling district where a lot in a one-family district or a two-family district abuts upon a lot zoned for business or industrial purposes as follows:

• On a lot in a single-family dwelling district which sides upon a lot zoned for business or industrial purposes, the board may permit a two-family dwelling.

• Permit the extension of a building or use into a more restricted district, immediately adjacent thereto, but not more than fifty (50) feet beyond the boundary line of the district in which such building or use is authorized.

• Grant in undeveloped sections of the city temporary and conditional permits for not more than two (2) years. The granting or existence of such temporary or conditional permit shall not be reason or cause for extension of such permit.

• Permit such modification of yard, open space, lot area or lot width regulations as may be necessary to secure an appropriate improvement of a parcel of land if such parcel is separately owned at the time of the original passage of this ordinance or subsequent annexation of the city and is of such restricted area that it cannot be appropriately improved without such modification.

• To determine in cases of uncertainty the classification of any use not specifically named in this ordinance.

• To grant a permit for the extension of a use, height or area regulation into an adjoining district, where the boundary line of the district divided a lot in a single ownership at the time of the adoption of this ordinance.

• To permit as an accessory use a parking area for automobiles or a driveway or passageway on a lot or lots in an R-3 Duplex District and/or R-3(A) Apartment District where such lots abut or are across a street of not more than fifty (50) feet in width from a B-1 Neighborhood and Highway Business District, B-2 Business District, or B-3 General Business District, subject, however, to the following provisions:

ii.

The area shall be properly enclosed with hedge screen, fence, wall or other suitable enclosure having a height of not less than three (3) feet nor more than six (6) feet. Such fence or enclosure shall conform to the front yard regulations of the district in which it is located.

iii.

The area or driveway shall be paved.

iv.

No parking of vehicles shall be permitted within six (6) feet of any adjoining lot on which is located a residential structure.

v.

One sign, not exceeding two and one-half (2½) square feet in area, may be erected identifying the parking lot or driveway.

vi.

No charges may be made for parking on the lots and no other business use may be made of the property.

vii.

Any light used to illuminate said parking area shall be so arranged as to direct the light away from any adjoining premises used for residential purposes.

viii.

Permit the reconstruction of a building occupied by a nonconforming use, or permit the extension of a nonconforming use of a building upon the lot occupied by such use or building at the time of the passage of this ordinance.

ix.

Any appeal or permit granted by the board of adjustment shall not be valid if construction authorized by said permit is not begun within a period of sixty (60) days.

(f)

Powers of the board.

(1)

In exercising the abovementioned powers such board may, in conformity with the provisions of this act, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision, or determination appealed from and may make such order, requirement, decision, or determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken.

(2)

In considering all appeals and all proposed variations to this ordinance the board shall, before making any finding, in a specific case, first determine that the proposed variation will not constitute any change in the district map and will not impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property, or materially increase the congestion in public streets, or increase the public danger of fires and safety, or materially diminish or impair established property values within the surrounding area, or in any other respect impair the public health, safety, comfort, morals and welfare of the City of Eagle Pass, Texas.

(3)

Every variation granted or denied by the board shall be accompanied by a written finding of fact, based on sworn testimony and evidence, specifying the reason for granting or denying the variation.

(4)

Only one (1) request for each variance shall be considered by the board of adjustment. However, the board may, in its sole discretion, rehear or reconsider a matter if (1) it exceeded its jurisdiction; or (2) a substantial change of conditions has occurred or other considerations materially affecting the merits of the request have occurred following its initial decision; or (3) good cause exists.

The rehearing or reconsideration must be filed with the board by a person aggrieved by the decision or by the board within ten (10) days after the date the decision is filed in the board's office, accompanied by a processing fee of six hundred dollars ($600.00); otherwise, the decision is final and subject to judicial review as provided by section 211.011 of the Texas Local Government Code. A processing fee is not required if the board seeks to rehear or reconsider a decision.

(Ord. No. 06-13, § 2, 7-11-2006; Ord. No. 2014-20, § 1, 9-16-2014)