Georgetown City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XXIII
Board of Adjustment
§ 230-178 Creation; membership; hearings.
A.
A Board of Adjustment is hereby created which shall hereafter be referred to as "Board." The Board shall consist of five members who shall be residents of the Town of Georgetown with knowledge of the problems of urban and rural development, appointed by the Mayor and approved by a majority of all the elected members of the Town Council. No member of the Board of Adjustment at the time of his or her appointment and throughout his or her term of office shall be a candidate for Mayor or for the Town Council, nor shall any member of the Board of Adjustment be the Mayor or a member of the Town Council.
B.
Each member of the Board of Adjustment shall be appointed for a term of three years; provided, however, that upon the original appointments, two members shall be appointed for a term of one year; two members for a term of two years; and one member for a term of three years. Any member of the Board of Adjustment may be reappointed for an additional term of three years.
C.
Any member of the Board of Adjustment may be removed from office for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office after a hearing and by a majority vote of all the elected members of the Town Council, or as provided in Subsection D.
[Amended 3-9-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-6]
D.
Any member of the Board who fails to attend 75% of the scheduled meetings of the Board in any twelve-month period, without an excuse acceptable to the Chairman, shall be deemed to have resigned and the vacancy shall be filled as herein provided for original appointments. Any vacancy occurring other than by expiration of term shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term in the same manner as an original appointment.
[Added 3-9-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-6[1]]
E.
The Board shall select a Chairman and a Vice Chairman from its membership, shall appoint a secretary, and shall prescribe rules for the conduct of its affairs. The Chairman, or in his or her absence the Vice Chairman, shall have the power to issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses and the production of records and may administer oaths and take testimony.
F.
For the conduct of any hearing, a quorum shall not be less than three members and a majority vote of the members of the Board present and voting shall be required to overrule any decision, ruling or determination of the official charged with enforcement of this chapter, or to approve any special exception or variance. All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public.
§ 230-179 Procedures.
The following shall be the procedures of the Board of Adjustment:
A.
Applications for special exceptions, interpretations and variances may be made by any property owner, tenant, government official, department, board or bureau. Such application shall be made to the Town Manager in accordance with rules adopted by the Board. The application and accompanying maps, plans or other information shall be transmitted promptly to the Chairman of the Board who shall place the matter on the docket and instruct the Town Manager to advertise a public hearing thereon, and give written notice of such hearing to the parties in interest.
[Amended 4-26-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-01]
B.
An appeal to the Board may be taken by any person aggrieved or by any officer, department, board or bureau of the Town affected by any decision of the Town Manager. Such appeal shall be taken within 30 days after the decision appealed from by filing with the Town Manager a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof. The Town Manager 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 appealed from unless the Town Manager certifies to the Board that by reason of facts stated in the certificate a stay would, in his or her opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order granted by the Board or by a court of record, on application and on notice to the Town Manager and on due cause shown.
C.
The Chairman shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of an application or appeal, give public notice thereof, as well as due notice to the parties in interest, and decide the same within 30 days following the hearing. At such hearing, any party may appear in person or by agent or attorney. The Board may cause the date, time, place and nature of the hearing to be posted conspicuously on the property in accordance with the rules of the Board. Following such hearing, the Board may grant, deny, reverse, modify or affirm, in whole or in part, the order, requirement, decision or determination which is the subject of the application or appeal.
[Amended 9-12-2018 by Ord. No. 2018-03]
D.
The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings and other official actions, 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 filed in the Town Office of Georgetown and shall be a public record. The Chairman of the Board, or in his or her absence the Vice Chairman, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses.
§ 230-180 Powers of Board.
The Board of Adjustment shall have the following powers:
A.
To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision or determination made by an administrative official in the administration or enforcement of this chapter.
B.
To hear and decide special exceptions to the terms of the chapter upon which the Board is required to pass under this chapter.
C.
To authorize, in specific cases, such variance from the terms of this chapter that will not be contrary to the public interest, where, owing to special conditions or exceptional situations, a literal interpretation of the chapter will result in unnecessary hardship or exceptional practical difficulties to the owner of property so that the spirit of the chapter shall be observed and substantial justice done, provided that such relief may be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without substantially impairing the intent and purpose of the chapter.
§ 230-181 Appeals.
In exercising the powers provided in § 230-178 of this chapter the Board may, in conformity with this article, 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.
§ 230-182 Special exceptions.
In order to provide for adjustments in the relative location of uses and buildings, to promote the usefulness of these regulations and to supply the necessary elasticity to their efficient operation, special use exceptions are limited as to locations described in this article, special yard and height exceptions are permitted by the terms of these regulations. The following exceptions are permitted as special exceptions if the Board finds that, in its opinion, as a matter of fact, such exceptions will not substantially affect adversely the uses of adjacent and neighboring property:
A.
Exceptions to parking and loading requirements as follows:
(1)
Off-street parking areas, adjacent to or at a reasonable distance from the premises on which parking areas are required by the parking regulations where practical difficulties, including the acquisition of property, or undue hardships are encountered in locating such parking areas on the premises and where the purpose of these regulations to relieve congestion in the streets would best be served by permitting such parking off the premises.
(2)
Waiver or reduction of the parking and loading requirements in any district whenever the character or use of the buildings is such as to make unnecessary the full provision of parking or loading facilities.
(3)
Waiver or reduction of loading space requirements where adequate community loading facilities are provided.
(4)
Waiver or reduction of loading space requirements for uses which contain less than 10,000 square feet of floor area where construction of existing buildings, problems of access or size of lot make impractical the provision of required loading space.
(5)
Waiver or reduction in interior drive width.
B.
The following are special yard exceptions:
(1)
An exception in the yard regulations on a lot where, on the adjacent lot, there is a front, side or rear yard that does not conform with such yard regulations in a way similar to the exception applied for.
(2)
An exception in the depth of a rear yard on a lot, in a block where there are nonconforming rear yards.
(3)
An exception where there are irregularities in depths of existing front yards on a street frontage on the side of a street between two intersecting streets, so that any one of the existing depths shall, for a building hereafter constructed or extended, be the required minimum front yard depth.
C.
The following are special height exceptions:
(1)
An exception to the height regulations in the LI1 Limited Industrial District and LI2 Light Industrial District.
(2)
An exception to the height limit of 150 feet for a radio or television broadcasting station or tower, provided that construction and safety features are approved by the Town Manager in accordance with applicable regulations, and provided that no hazard is created in an Airport Approach Zone.
§ 230-183 Conditions to approval.
The following conditions may be attached to approvals by the Board of Adjustment:
A.
Where, in these regulations, special exceptions are permitted, provided that they are approved by the Board, and where the Board is authorized to decide appeals or approve certain uses, and where the Board is authorized to approve variances, such approval, decision or authorization shall be limited by such conditions as the case may require, including the imposition of any of the following specifications:
(1)
Amount and location of off-street parking and loading space.
(2)
Amount, direction and location of outdoor lighting.
(3)
Cleaning or painting.
(4)
Connected or disconnected with other buildings.
(5)
Construction and materials.
(6)
Control or elimination of smoke, dust, gas, noise or vibration caused by operations.
(7)
Exits or entrances, doors and windows.
(8)
Gable roof or other type.
(9)
Limitations of signs as to size, type, color, location or illuminations.
(10)
No outside signs or advertising structures except professional or directional signs.
(11)
No store fronts.
(12)
No structural changes.
(13)
Paving, shrubbery, landscaping or ornamental or screening fences, walls or hedges.
(14)
Requirements for termination of a use based on lapse of time or such other conditions as the Board may specify.
(15)
Time of day or night for operating.
(16)
Such other conditions as are necessary.
§ 230-184 Duration of special exception approval.
After the Board of Adjustment has approved a special exception or granted a variance, the special exception or variance so approved or granted shall lapse after the expiration of one year if no substantial construction or change of use has taken place in accordance with the plans for which such special exception or variance was granted, or if the Board does not specify some longer period than one year for good cause shown, and the provisions of these regulations shall thereafter govern.
§ 230-185 Amendment of special exception or variance.
The procedure for amendment of a special exception or variance already approved, or a request for a change of conditions attached to an approval, shall be the same as for a new application except that where the Town Manager determines the change to be minor relative to the original approval he or she may transmit the same to the Board with the original record without requiring that a new application be filed.
§ 230-186 Filing of appeals.
Appeals to courts from a decision of the Board may be filed in a manner prescribed by law.