Salem City Zoning Code
ARTICLE IX
Zoning Board of Adjustment and Enforcement
§ 490-901 Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA).
A.
Membership; appointment. The ZBA shall consist of five members and requisite alternates as permitted by New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated and shall be elected in accordance with RSA 673:3, II.
[Amended by the 2007 Town Meeting]
B.
Duties. The duties of the ZBA shall be as specified in the New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated as amended from time to time.
C.
Persons authorized to appeal; procedure. Appeals to the ZBA may be taken by any person aggrieved or by any officer, department, board or bureau of Salem affected by any decision of the Building Inspector. Such appeal shall be taken within 10 days of the Building Inspector's decision by filing with the Building Inspector and with the ZBA a notice of appeal specifying the grounds therefor. The Building Inspector shall forthwith transmit to the ZBA all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken.
D.
Notice of hearing; hearing procedure. Notice of the time and place of any hearing of the ZBA shall be published in a paper of general circulation in the Town of Salem and given to all parties in interest. The Planning Board and the Building Inspector shall be notified. All hearings and meetings of the ZBA, including executive sessions, shall be public, except meetings or conferences solely for the purpose of granting or denying motions for rehearing. Any person shall have a right to have a stenographer or recording device present. The ZBA shall adopt rules in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. Meetings of the ZBA shall be held at the call of the Chairman and at such other times as the ZBA may determine. The Chairman or in his absence the Acting Chairman may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses and shall administer oaths and require that any or all evidence be under oath whenever requested by any party. The ZBA shall keep minutes of its proceedings and shall show 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 all other official actions, all of which shall be immediately filed in the Town office and shall be a public record.
E.
Publication of description of work required. The ZBA shall require as a condition of the effectiveness of any permit, exception, or variance granted by it or any action taken by it that a person requesting such action shall cause to be published such description of the act as the Chairman of the ZBA shall determine, including a description of the location and the construction, alteration or use, in a paper of general circulation in Salem within five days of such action, the permit or action to become effective only upon such publication.
F.
Rehearing. Within 30 days after any order of the ZBA, any person affected by such order may apply for a rehearing in respect to any matter determined in the proceedings. Appeals from action on such rehearing shall be in accordance with New Hampshire statutes.
[Amended by the 2015 Town Meeting]
G.
Application for rehearing. Such application shall set forth fully every ground upon which it is claimed that the decision or order complained of is unlawful or unreasonable. No appeal from any order or decision of the ZBA shall be taken unless the appellant shall have made application for rehearing as herein provided, and when such application shall have been made, no ground not set forth therein shall be urged, relied on or given any consideration by the court unless the court for good cause shown shall allow the appellant to specify additional grounds.
H.
Action on rehearing application; subsequent appeals. Upon the filing of such application for rehearing, the ZBA shall within 30 days either grant or deny the same or suspend the order or decision complained of pending further consideration, and any order of suspension may be upon such terms and conditions as the ZBA may prescribe. Failure to take any action within 30 days shall constitute a denial of the rehearing. Within 30 days after the application for a rehearing is denied or, if the application is granted, within 30 days after the decision on such application, the applicant, or any other person or party affected, may appeal by petition to the Superior Court.
[Amended by the 2015 Town Meeting]
I.
Persons who may be part of proceedings. Any party whose rights may be directly affected by any action of the ZBA may appear and become a party in any proceeding before it.
J.
Criteria for granting exceptions. Exceptions shall be granted by the ZBA if, but only if, the ZBA finds that the conditions of this chapter relating to such permitted exceptions have been or will be met. No other criteria shall be imposed by the ZBA, and no other considerations shall govern its determinations. The burden of proving that such conditions have been or will be met shall be upon the applicant.
K.
Criteria for granting variances.
(1)
Variances shall be granted by the ZBA if, but only if, the ZBA shall find all five of the following:
(a)
No diminution of surrounding property values would be suffered.
(b)
Granting the permit would be of benefit to the public interest.
(c)
Denial of the permit would result in unnecessary hardship to the owner seeking it. "Financial hardship" in this connection does not mean personal financial hardship of the owner but means that the land, building or structure, if required to be constructed or used literally in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, would produce unnecessary hardship to the owner, whoever that might be.
(d)
By granting the permit, substantial justice will be done.
(e)
The use, construction or alteration would not be contrary to the spirit of this chapter.
(2)
No other criteria shall be imposed by the ZBA, and no other considerations shall govern its deliberations on variances. The burden of proving that such criteria have been or will be met shall be upon the applicant. The ZBA may attach reasonable conditions to the granting of any variance.
L.
Conduct of deliberations; public access to information. In making its deliberations, the ZBA shall not receive or consider any evidence not submitted to it in public hearing. Any party to a hearing before the ZBA shall have a right to request in writing specific findings of fact and specific rulings. No action of the ZBA shall be effective unless and until it has passed upon and duly recorded its decision on each and every such request submitted to it in the public hearing upon such matter.
M.
Termination of variances and exceptions. Any variance or exception granted by the ZBA shall be terminated two years from its issuance by the ZBA unless the variance or exception granted has been exercised by the recipient. However, this subsection shall not preclude the earlier invalidity of a variance or exception if, prior to its exercise by the recipient, the circumstances in existence at the time of its issuance have altered appreciably.
[Amended by the 2015 Town Meeting]
N.
Inspection of sites. The ZBA may only turn down a request for a proposed project after making a physical inspection of the site.
[Added by the 1992 Town Meeting]
§ 490-902 Enforcement.
A.
Designation of enforcement authority.
(1)
Authority to issue building permits. It shall be the duty of the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Selectmen is hereby given power and authority to enforce the provisions of this chapter. The Board of Selectmen shall appoint a Building Inspector, who shall hold office at the pleasure of the Selectmen and who shall take all action necessary for the initial issuance or denial of permits under the provisions of this chapter.
(2)
Enforcement of land use regulations. The Board of Selectmen shall appoint a Chief Building Official who is the lead official responsible for the enforcement of this chapter, the Site Plan Review Regulations, and the Subdivision Regulations, together with the current Building Code as adopted by the Town. The Chief Building Official may call upon the police, fire, engineer, health officer, public works, or any other appropriate Town officials to assist in enforcement and investigation of an alleged violation. The Planning Director shall assist in inspection, research, and response to reports of violations relating to site plans or subdivision regulations. The Chief Building Official shall inspect private property and notify owners of code violations; issue summons for violations of building codes, housing, zoning codes, excavation, regulations, violations of the conditions or terms of Planning Board site plan or subdivision approval, and other related Town land use regulations; conduct research of records to identify and locate owners of property where violations occur; conduct field surveys for code compliance; and interact with the public on issues of code compliance. The Chief Building Official also shall have the authority to seek injunctions in Superior Court, as deemed appropriate. Town officials shall be guided in their duties to enforce by the provisions contained in RSA 676.
[Added by the 1999 Town Meeting]
B.
Building permit required. Except for building structures and uses to which the regulations herein do not apply, no building, structure, trailer, mobile home or sign shall be erected or altered and no use of any building, structure or land shall be made until there has been obtained a building permit from the Building Inspector authorizing such construction, alteration or use. A permit may be obtained and shall, if appropriate, be granted upon the application of any person for construction, alteration or use which is excepted from the regulations herein.
C.
Building permit application procedure. Applications for building permits shall be filed with the Building Inspector and shall include a plot plan and shall contain such information as the Building Inspector may require to enable him to ascertain whether the proposed building or structure and its intended use comply with the provisions of this chapter.
D.
Permit fee. A fee of $1 for each $1,000 of construction costs shall be paid to the Building Inspector at the time of application, which shall be paid into the Town treasury. This fee schedule shall only be operable in the absence of a Building Code (see Chapter 210) and fee schedule otherwise enacted.
E.
Failure to issue permit deemed a denial. If the Building Inspector shall fail to grant the application within the time periods specified in RSA 676:13, the application shall be considered denied as of that date unless an extension of time is agreed upon, in writing, by the applicant and the Building Inspector.
[Amended by the 2020 Town Meeting]
F.
Notice of application. The Building Inspector, within three business days of granting a permit, shall post a description of the location and the nature of the construction, alteration or use applied for in two public locations, one of which shall be the Town of Salem's Internet website.
[Amended by the 2014 Town Meeting]
§ 490-903 Violations and penalties.
In addition to any other remedies authorized by law, in case any building or structure is erected, reconstructed, altered, repaired, converted, or maintained or any building, structure or land is used in violation of this chapter, the owner or owners of the building, structure or land, and any other person violating the provisions of this chapter, may be punished by a fine up to the maximum permitted by statute in accordance with the provisions of RSA 676:17 as it may be amended.