Taking of appeals. Appeals to the Board of Appeals alleging error in administration of this chapter may be taken by any person aggrieved, or by any officer, department, board or committee of the Town of St. Joseph affected, by a decision of the Town Board in administering said ordinances, and shall be processed pursuant to the rules of the Board of Appeals.

Stay. An appeal to the Board of Appeals shall stay all legal proceedings in furtherance of the action being appealed from unless the Town Board or administrative officer whose decision is being appealed to the Board certifies to the Board after the appeal has been filed that, by reason of facts stated in the certificate, a stay would, in the opinion of the Town Board or administrative officer, cause imminent peril to life or property. In such case, legal proceedings shall not be stayed except by a restraining order which may be granted by a court of record on application, on notice to the Town and on due cause shown.

Powers of Board of appeals. The Board of Appeals shall have the power to hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is an error in any order, requirement, decision or determination made in the enforcement of this chapter, and to authorize upon appeal in specific cases such variance from the requirements of this chapter as will not be contrary to the public interest and where, owing to special conditions, a literal enforcement of any provision of this chapter would result in practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship, so that the spirit of this chapter shall be observed, public safety and welfare secured and substantial justice done.

A use variance means an authorization by the Board of Appeals under this article to allow the use of land for a purpose that is otherwise not allowed or is prohibited by the applicable zoning ordinance and is available only when a property owner will have no reasonable use of the property without a use variance.

An area variance is available only when strict compliance with Town regulations governing area, setbacks, frontage, height, bulk or density will unreasonably prevent an owner from using property for a permitted purpose or will render conformity with those regulations unnecessarily burdensome.

Application.

Burden of proof. An applicant seeking a variance has the burden of proof.

Hearings. Board hearings on variance applications shall be conducted in compliance with the rules and bylaws of the Board. Meaningful advance notice of such hearings shall be given at least 10 days before the hearing to all abutting landowners and owners of nonabutting property located within 300 feet of the perimeter property lines of the parcel that is the subject of the application, by or under the direction of the Town Clerk/Treasurer.

Action of the Board of Appeals. Following the hearing on the application, the Board of Appeals shall determine whether the applicant has shown unnecessary hardship or practical difficulty after first reviewing the information provided to it, after examining what the zoning regulation at issue is intended to accomplish and after considering concerns related to the welfare of the public such as safety, especially in the immediate area, property values, especially in the immediate area, uniformity of appearance and uniformity of treatment.

Finding required.

Conditions. The Board of Appeals may impose such conditions and restrictions upon the premises receiving a variance as it determines to be necessary for consistency of result with the standards and requirements herein and with special emphasis on requirements for area variances that will maintain and protect consistency with the character, appearance and parcel based proportion of area-to-structure found in adjacent and neighborhood development and on requiring mitigating measures such as plant, fence or earth-based screening that will avoid or permanently reduce the adverse effect of the variance on present and planned adjacent and neighborhood development.