8.1a A Board of Zoning Appeals consisting of seven (7) members shall be appointed by the Mayor and approved by City Council in accordance with the provisions of the Illinois Revised Statutes. The appointing authority may remove any member of the Board for cause and after a public hearing.

8.1b The Board shall elect its own chair and have the power to adopt rules and regulations for its own government, not inconsistent with law or with the provisions of this or any other Ordinance of the City of Rock Island. Meetings shall be held at the call of the chair and at such other times as the Board may determine. The chair, or in their absence, the vice chair, may administer oaths and compel attendance of the witnesses.

8.1c Meetings of the Board shall be open to the public, minutes shall be kept of proceedings, showing the action of the Board and the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent, or failing to vote, indicating that fact and records shall be made of the Board's examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be filed immediately in the Office of the Board.

8.1d Four (4) members of the Board shall constitute a quorum. The Board shall act by resolution, and the concurring vote of four (4) members shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of the Planning and Redevelopment Administrator, or to decide in favor of an applicant any matter upon which it is required to pass under this Appendix, or to affect any variation in the requirements of this Appendix.

8.1e The Board may call on the City's departments for assistance in the performance of its duties, and it shall be the duty of such departments to render such assistance to the Board as may reasonably be required.

8.3a An appeal to the Board may be taken by any property owner, including a tenant, or by any governmental officer, department, board or bureau, affected by any ruling of the building official. Such an appeal shall be taken within a reasonable time, as prescribed by the rules of the board, by filing with the planning and redevelopment administrator a notice of appeal, specifying grounds thereof. The Planning and Redevelopment Administrator shall forthwith transmit to the board such notice of appeal, together with all the plans and papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken. Said application shall be accompanied by a fee. Should the application be withdrawn prior to publication of legal notice thereon, such fee will be returned upon the written request of the applicant.

8.3b The Board shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing on an application for appeal. It shall give at least fifteen (15) days notice of the time and place of such hearing by insertion in a daily newspaper published in the City of Rock Island, and shall also give notice delivered personally or by mail at least five (5) days before the time fixed for such hearing to the applicant or appellant, and to the respective owners of record of property adjoining or adjacent to the premises in question. Any party may appear at such hearing in person or by agent, or by attorney. The Board shall decide the application or appeal within a reasonable time.

8.5a Variances to Zoning and Sign Ordinances Regulations.

8.5b Special Exceptions.

8.5c Non-Conforming Uses.

8.5d Temporary Uses.

8.5e Certain Industries in I-2 Districts.

8.5f Interpretation of Maps.

8.5g Administrative Review.

8.6a To authorize or appeal in specific cases, such variances from the terms of the Zoning and Sign Ordinances as will not be contrary to the public interest, where owing to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the provisions of this Appendix will result in unnecessary hardship and so that the spirit of Zoning and Sign Ordinance shall be observed and substantial justice done, as follows: Where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific piece of property, at the time of enactment of Zoning and Sign Ordinances, or by reason of topographic conditions, or other extraordinary and exceptional situation or condition of such piece of property, or of the use or development of property immediately adjoining the piece of property in question, the literal enforcement of the provisions of the Zoning and Sign Ordinances would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties or exceptional and undue hardship upon the owner of such property, unnecessary to carry out the spirit and purpose of this Appendix shall be observed and substantial justice done. In authorizing a variance, the Board may attach thereto such reasonable conditions regarding the location, character and other features of the proposed building, structure or use as it may deem advisable in the interest of the furtherance of the purposes of the Zoning and Sign Ordinances.

8.6b The Board shall make final decisions on all variances except for variances for business zoned properties on parcels twenty thousand (20,000) square feet or larger in total area. In those circumstances, the Board will conduct the public hearing and then make a recommendation to the City Council for final action.

8.6c No such variance in the provisions or requirements of this Appendix shall be authorized by the Board and/or City Council unless the Board and/or City Council finds that at least two of the following three conditions exist:

   (1)   The property in question cannot yield a reasonable return if permitted to be used only under the conditions allowed by the regulations in that zone;

   (2)   The plight of the owner is due to unique circumstances. There are exceptional or extraordinary circumstances or conditions applying to the property in question as to the intended use of the property that do not apply generally to other properties or classes of uses in the same zoning district; and

   (3)   The variation, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality. Such variance is necessary for the preservation and enjoyment of a substantial property right-of-way possessed by other properties in the same zoning district and in the vicinity.

8.6d No variance shall be authorized unless the Board specifically finds that the condition or situation of the specific piece of property for which the variance is sought is not of so typical or recurrent a nature as to make reasonably practicable the formulation of a general regulation, under an amendment of this Appendix, for such conditions or situations.

In authorizing certain industries, the Board shall find due regard to the nature and condition of all adjacent uses and structures, and the consistency therewith of the proposed use and development. Before authorizing a use as a special exception, the Board shall determine whether the proposed exception or use would be hazardous, harmful, noxious, offensive or a nuisance to the surrounding neighborhood by reason of noise, smoke, odor, vibration, dust and dirt, cinders, noxious gases, glare and heat, fire and safety hazards, sewage waste and pollution, transportation and traffic, aesthetic and psychological effects. The Board may utilize and give recognition to those performance standards which are available in model codes or ordinances, or have been developed by planning, manufacturing, health, architectural and engineering research organizations, and can be applied to the proposed use, to assist it in reaching a fair and objective decision.

The refiling of denied requests or requests for removal of stipulations attached to approved cases by the Board of Zoning Appeals, that are not substantially or materially different from the previously filed request, shall not be accepted from the same or different person for the following periods of time:

8.15a For a six (6) month period from the date of the first decision by the Board of Zoning Appeals on the request.

8.15b For a one (1) year period from the date of subsequent decisions by the Board of Zoning Appeals on the request.

The Planning and Redevelopment Administrator shall determine whether a request is substantially or materially different and submittable, although the Board of Zoning Appeals may, by majority vote, reverse a decision of the Planning Administrator to not accept a request following a denied request on the property or request for removal of stipulations attached to approved cases by the Board of Zoning Appeals. (Ord. 070-2020, 12-21-2020)