There is established a Board of Zoning Appeals. Said Board shall consist of seven members to be appointed by the City Council to serve respectively for the following terms: one for one year, one for two years, one for three years, one for four years, one for five years, one for six years and one for seven years; the successor to each member so appointed to serve for a term of five years. One of the members so appointed shall be named as Chairman at the time of his appointment.

All meetings of the Board of Appeals shall be held at the call of the Chairman and at such other times as the Board may determine. All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public, and no hearing shall be conducted without a quorum of the Board being present, which shall consist of a majority of all the members. The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon every question or, if absent or failing to vote, indicating that fact, and shall also keep records of its examinations and other official actions. Every rule and regulation, every amendment or repeal thereof, and every order, requirement, decision, or determination of the Board shall immediately be filed in the office of the Board and shall be a public record.

The Board of Appeals shall hear and decide appeals from and review any order, requirement, decision or determination made by an administrative official charged with the enforcement of this chapter and any zoning ordinance. The Board shall also hear and decide all matters referred to it upon which it is required to pass under this chapter. The concurring vote of four members of the Board is necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or to decide in favor of the applicant any matter upon which it is required to pass under such ordinance or this chapter, or to effect any variance in the ordinance or this chapter, or to recommend any variation in the ordinance or this chapter, or to recommend any variation or modification in the ordinance or this chapter to the corporate authorities.

The City Council, by motion duly made, seconded and passed, may authorize, in the manner provided by law, variations from the provisions of this chapter where there are practical difficulties or particular hardships in the way of carrying out the strict letter of any of the provisions of this chapter relating to the use, construction or alteration of buildings or structures or the use of land. The City Council may attach conditions to the granting of variations and, in the event the conditions are not complied with during the existence of the variation, the variation shall be deemed automatically revoked. Any such conditions shall be stated in the motion for granting of the variance and the motion, together with such conditions, if any, shall be noted in the minutes of the City Council meeting and made a part of the permanent record thereof. However, no such variation shall be made, except in a specific case and after a public hearing before the Board of Appeals, pursuant to notice, and after a report with a finding of fact of the Board of Zoning Appeals, as provided by the laws of the state.

No variation shall be allowed to permit:

Decisions and recommendations of the Board of Zoning Appeals shall be reached only after a public hearing and after notice has been given by certified mail to the applicant. In addition, notice of the time and place of such public hearing shall be published in a paper of general circulation in the City not less than 15 days nor more than 30 days previous to the hearing. Such notice shall contain the address or location of the property for which a hearing by the Board is sought, as well as a brief description of the nature of the application. Any notice required by this section need not include a metes-and-bounds legal description of the location for which the variation is requested, provided that the notice includes the common street address or addresses and the property index number ("PIN") or numbers of all the parcels of real property contained in the area for which the variation is requested.

Fees pertaining to petitions for zoning amendments, variations and appeals to the Board of Zoning Appeals shall be established by action of the Council from time to time. Such fees shall be paid to the Clerk, who shall give a receipt therefor.