Lufkin City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XXIV
BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT
§ 1 Board of Adjustment.
There is hereby created a Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals consisting of five (5) members each to be appointed by the City Council. The City Council shall also appoint four (4) alternate members of the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals who shall serve in the absence of one or more regular members when requested to do so by the Mayor or the City Manager. The members and alternates of the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals shall be residents of the City of Lufkin, Texas, property owners, and qualified voters of the City of Lufkin. Three (3) of the regular members shall be appointed for two (2) year terms and two (2) regular members shall initially be appointed for one (1) year terms and the alternate members shall be appointed for two (2) year terms. Any member is subject to removal for cause by City Council upon written charges and after public hearings. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term of any member or alternate whose term becomes vacant. The Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals may adopt rules to govern its proceedings, provided that such rules are not inconsistent with this ordinance. All cases to be heard by the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals will always be heard by a minimum of five (5) members.
All members present, including the Chairman shall vote on every motion. Any member of the Board present and refusing to vote shall be entered in the minutes of such meeting as voting in the affirmative, provided however, that a member of the Board shall not vote upon the consideration of any matter involving his own official conduct or where his financial interest is involved; in which event such member shall give his reasons for not voting and such reasons shall be entered upon the minutes of the Board. Minutes of all meetings of the Board shall be taken and recorded and such shall constitute a public record. Meetings of the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals may be held at the call of the Chairman, who may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals shall be open to the public.
The Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals 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 enforcement of this ordinance.
Such appeals can be taken by any person aggrieved or by any officer, department, board or department of municipality affected by any decision of the administrative office. Such appeals shall be taken within fifteen (15) days’ time after the decision has been rendered by the administrative office, by filing with the officer from whom the appeal is taken and with the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals, a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the Board all papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken. An appeal shall stay all proceedings upon the action appealed unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals, 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 case, proceedings shall not be stayed, otherwise than by a restraining order which may be granted by the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals or by a court of record or application [sic] on notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
The Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals shall hear an appeal within 30 days from date of filing notice of appeal, after public notice thereof, as well as due notice to the parties in interest and decide the same within 60 days from date of such hearing. Upon the hearing any party may appear in person or by attorney or by agent.
B.
To provide relief from the terms of the Zoning Ordinance when, because of special circumstances applicable to the property, the strict application of the zoning regulations will deprive such property of privileges enjoyed by other property in the vicinity having the identical zoning classification. The Board will ensure that any adjustment thereby authorized shall not constitute a grant of special privileges inconsistent with the limitations upon other properties in the vicinity and the district in which such property is situated.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment and Appeals may grant a variance, due to an unnecessary hardship, when it makes affirmative findings of fact on each of the following criteria:
1.
The hardship for which the variance is requested is unique to the property and not general to the area in which the property is located;
2.
The variance will not alter the character of the area adjacent to the property, will not impair the use of adjacent conforming property, and will not impair the purposes or regulations of the zoning district in which the property is located.
It may be considered an unnecessary hardship when a lot of record within a single-family zoning district does not meet the dimensional requirements of that zoning district, and the application of the dimensional requirements would deprive the property owner of a structure deemed common to the majority of single-family residences and reasonably required for the maintenance of the residence and for the protection of adjacent property. |
C.
In exercising its powers, the Board may, in conformity with the provisions of Articles 1001-A and including 1011-J of the 1925 Civil Statutes of Texas, revise or reform wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination as ought to be made and shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken, provided however, that the concurring vote of four (4) members of the Board shall be necessary to revise any order, requirements, decision or determination of any such administrative official; or to decide in favor of the application on any matter upon which it is required to pass under this ordinance or to affect any variances in said ordinance.
Any person or persons, jointly or severally, aggrieved by any decision of the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals, or any officer, department, or Board of the
Municipality may present to court of record a petition, duly verified, setting forth that such decision is illegal, in whole or in part, specifying the grounds of illegality. Such petition shall be presented to the court within ten (10) days after the filing of the decision in the office of the Board and not thereafter.
(Ordinance 3368 adopted 2/10/1999, as revised through 10/19/2010)