(a)

A board of appeals is hereby established in accordance with the provisions of the statute applicable thereto. The board of appeals shall be comprised of two members of the planning and zoning commission and three members of the city council as appointed by the mayor. The members shall serve for four years from appointment. Meetings of the board shall be held at such time and place within the municipality as the board may require or determine.

(b)

Special meetings may be held at the call of the chairman or as determined by the board. Such chairman, or in his absence, the acting chairman, may administer oaths and compel attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the board of appeals shall be open to the public.

(c)

Such 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 board shall adopt its own rules of procedure not in conflict with the statute or this chapter.

(d)

Appeals to the board of appeals may be taken by any person aggrieved or by an officer, department, board, or bureau of the municipality. Such appeal shall be taken within 20 days from the date of the action appealed from, by filing with the city administrator and board of appeals a notice of appeal, specifying the grounds thereof. The city administrator shall forthwith transmit to the 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 city administrator certifies to the 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 board of appeals shall fix a reasonable time for hearing of the appeal and give due notice thereof to the parties and decide the same within a reasonable time. The 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.

(Code 2008, § 17.930; Ord. No. 09-15, § I(17.930), 11-2-2009)

(a)

Variance application. The zoning board of appeals shall hear and decide appeals from any order, requirements, decision, or determination made by the planning and zoning commission. It shall also hear and decide all matters referred to it or upon which it is required to pass under this chapter. The 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 board may decide to be fitting and proper in the premises, and to that end the board shall also have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken. 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 board may, in the following instances only, make such variations of the strict application of terms of this chapter as are in harmony with its general purpose and intent when the board is satisfied, under the evidence heard before it, that the granting of such variance will not merely serve as a convenience to the applicant, but is necessary to alleviate some demonstrable hardship so great as to warrant a variance:

(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 a nonconforming building which has been destroyed or damaged to an extent of more than 50 percent of its value, by fire or act of God, or the public enemy, where the board shall find some compelling public necessity requiring a continuance of the nonconforming use, but in no case shall such a permit be issued if its primary function is to continue a monopoly.

(3)

To make a variance, by 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 practical 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 business 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 would extend beyond the distance specific in this chapter into side yards or into front yards; provided that such variance may not be granted:

a.

Unless there is a building in the block that 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.

Unless the lot is irregular in shape, topography, or size; or

c.

Unless 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 of the regulations of this chapter as the board may deem necessary to secure all 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.

(b)

Nothing herein contained shall be construed to give or grant the board the power or authority to alter or change the zoning code or the district map; such power and authority being reserved to the city council. The board of appeals may impose such conditions and restrictions upon the use of premises benefited by a variance, except in a specific case, after an application for a permit has been made to the city and after duly advertised public hearing held by the board as prescribed by statute. The notice of hearing shall contain the address or location of the property for which the variance or other ruling by the 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 hearings involving variances, the applicant shall pay the sum of $100.00 to the city clerk at the time of the filing of the appeal for the variance.

(c)

The city also reserves the right to itself to grant variations as to the terms of this chapter as set forth in section 78-11.

(Code 2008, § 17.940; Ord. No. 09-15, § I(17.940), 11-2-2009)