Silverton City Zoning Code
§ 153.05
APPEALS AND VARIANCES.
(A) Appeals to the Board of Zoning Appeals. Appeals to the Board of Zoning Appeals may be submitted by any person, firm or corporation, including the City Council, deeming himself, herself or itself to be adversely affected by a decision of the Zoning Enforcement Officer or the Planning Commission.
(B) Initiation of an appeal. Applications for an appeal shall be filed with the Zoning Enforcement Officer and with the Board of Zoning Appeals within 20 days after the date of any adverse order, requirement, decision, or determination. The application for appeal shall include reference to the decision and the provision of this Zoning Code from which the appeal is sought. The application for appeal shall also contain a detailed written description of the alleged error and may include supporting documentation including, but not limited to, photographs, maps, site plans, drawings, correspondence and any other materials deemed to be relevant to the alleged error. The Zoning Enforcement Officer shall transmit to the Board of Zoning Appeals all papers constituting the record upon which the action being appealed was taken. Failure to submit the administrative appeal within the 20-day period shall forfeit the applicant's right from seeking an administrative appeal under this section.
(C) Application for an area variance. Applications for an area variance shall be submitted to the Zoning Enforcement Officer with all fees and application content required pursuant to § 153.02(D) and (E).
(D) Public hearing by the Board. When an application for appeal or an area variance has been filed in the proper form with the Board of Zoning Appeals and the application fee has been paid, the Zoning Enforcement Officer shall place the request upon the calendar for public hearing before the Board of Zoning Appeals pursuant to the procedural requirements set forth § 153.04(E).
(E) Stay of proceedings. An appeal shall stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the Zoning Enforcement Officer shall certify to the Board of Zoning Appeals after the notice of the appeal has been filed, that by reason of facts stated in the permit, a stay would cause imminent peril to life or property. In such case, proceedings shall not be stayed by other than a restraining order granted by a court having appropriate jurisdiction.
(F) Review of an appeal.
(1) The Board of Zoning Appeals shall review the appeal. To aid in their review, the Board may transmit the application to appropriate administrative departments and professional consultants for review and comment. Any reports, comments, or expert opinions shall be compiled by the Zoning Enforcement Officer and transmitted to the Board prior to the time of the Board's review.
(2) Decision of the Board. Within the limits of the powers set forth in this Zoning Code, the Board of Zoning Appeals may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination being appealed, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken, and it may direct the issuance of a zoning permit.
(a) Any decision by the Board of Zoning Appeals requires the concurrence of a majority of the members present for the vote. The Board shall render a decision on the appeal within 30 days from the date the Board closes the public hearing, unless an extended period of time is mutually agreed upon by the applicant and the Board.
(b) The Board of Zoning Appeals shall notify the applicant in writing of the decision of the Board, which shall include the reasons for the action taken.
(3) Review criteria. An administrative order, decision, determination or interpretation shall not be reversed or modified unless there is competent, material, and substantial evidence in the record that the order, decision, determination or interpretation fails to comply with either the procedural or substantive requirements of this Zoning Code.
(G) Review of area variances. The Board of Zoning Appeals may authorize upon appeal in specific cases of an area variance from the terms of this Zoning Code as will not be contrary to the public interest according to the following procedures:
(1) Definition. Area variances shall be considered those variances from a zoning regulation that establishes minimum or maximum areas, heights, distances, separation volume or any other measurement, which is expressed in terms of a geometric measurement.
(2) Review by the Board. The Board of Zoning Appeals shall hold a public hearing and give notice of the same pursuant to § 153.04(E). The Board shall review each application for an area variance to determine if it complies with the purpose and intent of this Zoning Code and evidence demonstrates that the literal enforcement of this Zoning Code will result in practical difficulty. The following factors shall be considered and weighed by the Board to determine practical difficulty:
(a) Whether special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land or structure involved and which are not applicable generally to other lands or structures in the same zoning district. Examples of such special conditions or circumstances are exceptional irregularity, narrowness, shallowness or steepness of the lot, or adjacency to non-conforming and inharmonious uses, structures or conditions;
(b) Whether the property in question will yield a reasonable return or whether there can be any beneficial use of the property without the variance;
(c) Whether the variance is substantial and is the minimum necessary to make possible the reasonable use of the land or structures;
(d) Whether the essential character of the neighborhood would be substantially altered or whether adjoining properties would suffer substantial detriment as a result of the variance;
(e) Whether the variance would adversely affect the delivery of governmental services such as water, sewer, or trash pickup;
(f) Whether the property owner purchased the property with knowledge of the zoning restrictions;
(g) Whether special conditions or circumstances exist as a result of actions of the owner;
(h) Whether the property owner's predicament feasibly can be obviated through some method other than a variance;
(i) Whether the spirit and intent behind the zoning requirement would be observed and substantial justice done by granting a variance; and
(j) Whether the granting of the variance requested will confer on the applicant any special privilege that is denied by this regulation to other lands, structures, or buildings in the same district.
(3) Requests for additional information. The Board of Zoning Appeals may request that the applicant supply additional information that the Board deems necessary to review and evaluate the request for a variance.
(4) Conditions and safeguards. The Board may further prescribe any conditions and safeguards that it deems necessary to ensure that the objectives of the regulation(s) or provision(s) to which the variance applies will be met.
(5) Action by the Board. The Board shall either approve, approve with conditions as specified in division (G)(4), above, or disapprove the request for an area variance. In no case shall the Board of Zoning Appeals approve a variance that establishes a nonconforming use of land, building or structure where one had not previously existed.
(6) Term and extension of variance. Area variances shall be non-assignable without the written approval of the Board of Zoning Appeals and shall expire one year from the date of the variance issuance, unless prior thereto, the applicant substantially initiated work within one year in accordance with the granted variance or an extension of time has been granted by the Board of Zoning Appeals. “Substantially initiated” shall mean expending monies towards completing the project equal to at least 25% of the value of the total work to be performed. A variance shall also expire if the applicant fails to substantially complete the work within two years from the date of the variance issuance. “Substantially completed” shall mean expending monies towards completing the project equal to at least 90% of the value of the total work to be performed. Once the time limit pursuant to this section has expired, a request for a variance shall be considered to be a new application for a variance and shall meet all requirements for application and review pursuant to this section. Area variances approved in conjunction with a site plan shall remain valid for a one-year period.
(H) Use variances. The granting of use variances shall be prohibited. An applicant seeking to use a structure or parcel of land in a manner that is not consistent with the permitted uses or conditional uses for the zoning district in question, may seek a change in land use through an amendment of the zoning map or zoning text following the procedure set forth in § 153.02(F).
(Ord. 2025-10, passed 5-1-25)