Rice Lake City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XII
Administration
§ 260-116 Annexed territory.
All territory annexed to the City of Rice Lake shall automatically become a part of the Agricultural (A) District until definite boundaries and regulations are recommended by the Plan Commission and adopted by the Common Council; provided, however, that the Common Council shall adopt definite boundaries and district regulations within 90 days from the date of the annexation.
§ 260-117 Zoning Board of Appeals.
A.
Meetings and rules. All meetings of the Zoning Board of Appeals shall be held at the call of the Chairman and at such other times as the Board may determine. All hearings conducted by said 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 public record. The Zoning Board of Appeals shall adopt its own rules of procedure not in conflict with this Municipal Code or with the applicable Wisconsin Statutes.
B.
Offices. The Common Council shall provide suitable offices for the Zoning Board of Appeals for holding of hearings and the presentation of records, documents and accounts.
C.
Appropriations. The Common Council shall appropriate funds to carry out the duties of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and the Zoning Board of Appeals shall have the authority to expend, under regular procedure, all sums appropriated to it for the purpose and activities authorized herein.
§ 260-118 Appeals.
A.
Scope of appeals. Appeals to the Zoning Board of Appeals may be taken by any person aggrieved or by any officer, department, board or bureau of the city affected by any decision of the administrative officer. 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 Zoning Board of Appeals a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof. 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.
B.
Stay of proceedings. An appeal shall stay all legal proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the Board that, by reason of facts stated in the certificate, a stay would, in his opinion, cause immediate 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 Zoning Board of Appeals or by a court of record on application, on notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
C.
Board actions. In exercising such powers, the Board may, in conformity with the provisions of this chapter, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or 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 and may issue or direct the issuance of a permit.
§ 260-119 Hearings; decision by Zoning Board of Appeals.
A.
The Zoning Board of Appeals shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal or other matter referred to it and shall give public notice thereof, as well as notice to the parties in interest and to all those qualifying, as defined in § 62.23(7)(d), Wisconsin Statutes, as owners entitled to sign a remonstrance petition and shall decide the same within a reasonable time. Upon the hearing any party may appear in person or by agent or attorney.
B.
The concurring vote of four members of the Board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of any such administrative official or to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter upon which it is required to pass or to effect any variation in this chapter. The grounds of every such determination shall be stated.
§ 260-120 Appeals to court.
Any person aggrieved by any decision of the Zoning Board of Appeals or any taxpayer or any officer, department, board or bureau of the city may present to a court of record a petition, duly verified, setting forth that such decision is illegal, in whole or in part, specifying the grounds of the illegality. Such petition shall be presented to the court within 30 days after the filing of the decision in the office of the Zoning Board of Appeals, and such appeal shall be made pursuant to §§ 62.23(7)(e) 10 to 15, Wisconsin Statutes.
§ 260-121 Variances.
A.
Purpose.
(1)
A request for a variance may be made when an aggrieved party can submit proof that strict adherence to the provisions of this chapter would cause him undue hardship or create conditions causing greater harmful effects than the initial condition. The property owner bears the burden of proving that the unnecessary hardship is based on conditions unique to the property, rather than considerations personal to the property owner, and that the unnecessary hardship was not created by the property owner. Neither an area nor use variance may be granted which would have the effect of allowing changes to nonconforming uses and structures which are prohibited under Article III of this chapter.
[Amended 6-26-2018 by Ord. No. 18-05]
(2)
The Zoning Board of Appeals may authorize, upon appeal, in specific cases, such variance from the terms of this chapter as will not be contrary to the public interest where, owing to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the provisions of this chapter will result in unnecessary hardship and so that the spirit of this chapter shall be observed and substantial justice done. No variance shall permit a lower degree of flood protection than the flood protection elevation for the particular area or permit standards lower than those required by state law.
B.
Application for a variance. The application for a variance shall be filed with the Community Development Department. The application shall contain the following information:
(1)
Name and address of the applicant.
(2)
Statement that the applicant is the owner or the authorized agent of the owner of the property.
(3)
Address and description of the property.
(4)
An accurate scale drawing of the site and the surrounding areas for a distance at least 800 feet from each boundary of the site showing the location of streets and property lines.
C.
Public hearing of application. The Zoning Board of Appeals shall conduct at least one public hearing on the proposed variance. Notice of such hearing shall be given not more than 30 days and not less than 15 days before the hearing in one or more of the newspapers in general circulation in the City of Rice Lake. The Board shall thereafter reach its decision within 60 days from the filing of the application.
D.
Area variance standards.
(1)
Unnecessary hardship standard. The application of this chapter to the site, property or buildings will cause an unnecessary hardship. An unnecessary hardship exists when compliance with the strict letter of the restrictions governing area, setbacks, frontage, height, bulk, density or other dimensional attributes would unreasonably prevent the owner from using the property for a permitted purpose or would render conformity with such restrictions unnecessarily burdensome.
(a)
A variance shall not be granted where the reason for obtaining a variance is to alleviate personal inconvenience, construction errors or self-created hardships.
(b)
A variance shall not be granted where the reason for obtaining a variance is to obtain a more profitable use of the property or other economic reasons.
(c)
The hardship cannot be one that would have existed in the absence of this chapter.
(2)
Unique property limitations standard. Unique physical characteristics of the property prevents the applicant from developing in compliance with this chapter.
(a)
Physical features that may limit the use of property include, but are not limited to, wetlands, soil type, bedrock type and depth, groundwater depth and steep slopes.
(b)
Unique property limitations are unique or special conditions, or exceptional circumstances on the land in question due to lot size or shape, topography, or other physical features or circumstances, which the applicants or the owners of the property since the enactment of this chapter have had no control over and which do not generally apply to other properties in the same zone or vicinity. The property must qualify for the variance, not the situation of the applicant.
(c)
Existing violations on other properties or variances previously granted, including variances improperly granted, are not grounds for a variance. Applications for a variance must be individually evaluated based on all of these standards as applied to the property in question.
(d)
Variances shall not be granted for property features that affect many properties in the same way.
(3)
Public interest protection standard. The granting of the variance will not be detrimental to the public welfare or interest, or injurious to the other property or improvements in the neighborhood in which the property is located. A variance must not violate the spirit, purpose, intent or objectives of this chapter.
(a)
The granting of a variance shall not be based on the number of persons for or against it, or the lack of opposition or support, but shall be based solely upon the equities of the situation involved and the interest of the public at large.
(b)
If granted, the variance can only provide the minimum relief needed to alleviate the unnecessary hardship, mitigate problems caused by unique property limitations, or obtain reasonable use of the property.
(c)
The variance must not be detrimental to adjacent properties.
(d)
The burden of proof is upon the applicant to establish the eligibility for a variance.
(e)
The use of the property and/or buildings in question must presently either conform to this chapter, or be a legal nonconformity, to even be considered for a variance. An application for a variance that would bring the property into compliance may be considered.
E.
Use variance standards. No variance shall have the effect of permitting any use in a district that is prohibited in that district except that in the absence of such variance being granted there would be no reasonable use of the property. The granting of use variances constitute a greater threat to the integrity of zoning ordinances than does the granting of area variances. Hence, while the granting of a use variance is possible when no reasonable use of the property is found to exist without it, to otherwise effect the permitting of any use in a district that is prohibited in that district suggests that the property needs to be rezoned or that use be strictly prohibited. Section 260-121D(1), (2), and (3) above shall also be used as standards for granting or denying a variance under this section.
G.
Conditions. The Zoning Board of Appeals may impose such conditions and restrictions upon the premises benefited by a variance as may be necessary to comply with the standards established in this section.
§ 260-122 Amendments.
A.
Purpose. The purpose of this section is to provide a procedure for changing district boundaries, district regulations, off-street parking and other provisions of this chapter.
B.
Amendment involving a zoning district boundary change. An application for an amendment shall be filed with the Community Development Department. The application shall contain the following information:
(1)
Name and address of the applicant.
(2)
Statement that the applicant is the owner or authorized agent of the owner of at least one parcel of the property for which the change in district boundary or use is proposed.
(3)
Address and description of the property.
(4)
An accurate drawing of the site and surrounding area for a distance of at least 300 feet from each boundary.
(5)
Name and address of adjacent property owners.
C.
Administrative and text amendments. Administrative and text amendments initiated by the City or another party shall follow the procedures as established in § 62.23(7)(d)2, Wisconsin Statutes.
D.
Publication and hearing. The Council may adopt amendments to an existing zoning ordinance after first submitting the proposed amendments to the City Plan Commission for recommendation and report and after providing notice by publication prior to the hearing in the official newspaper of the proposed changes and of the hearing thereon and of the opportunity for any person interested to be heard. The notice shall be published at least two times prior to the hearing. In case of a protest against such change, duly signed and acknowledged either by the owners of 20% or more of the land included in such proposed change, by the owners of 20% or more of the land immediately adjacent and extending 100 feet therefrom or by the owners of 20% or more of the land directly opposite thereto extending 100 feet from the street frontage of such opposite land, such amendment shall not become effective unless approved by a three-fourths vote of the members of the Council.