1.   Creation and Membership. A Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby established, which shall consist of five members. The word “Board” when used in this section means Zoning Board of Adjustment. All members shall be appointed for overlapping terms of five years. Members shall be removable for cause by the Council upon written charges and after public hearing. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term of any member whose term becomes vacant. The Council shall provide for the appointment of a Board of Adjustment and in the regulations and restrictions adopted pursuant to the authority of Chapter 414.7 of the Code of Iowa shall provide that the said Board of Adjustment may in appropriate cases and subject to appropriate conditions and safeguards make special exceptions to the terms of the zoning ordinance in harmony with its general purpose and intent and in accordance with general or specific rules therein contained and provide that any property owner aggrieved by the action of the Council in the adoption of such regulations and restrictions may petition the said Board of Adjustment to modify regulations and restrictions as applied to such property owners. The Council may provide for its review of variances granted by the Board of Adjustment before their effective date. The Council may remand a decision to grant a variance to the Board of Adjustment for further study. The effective date of the variance is delayed for 30 days from the date of the remand.

2.   Meetings. Meetings of the Board of Adjustment shall be held either the second or fourth Mondays of the month and at such times and as frequently as such Board may determine necessary. 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 and failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall also keep records of its hearings and other official actions. Findings of fact shall be included in the minutes of each case of a requested variance, and the reasons for approval or denying such variation shall be specified. Every rule or regulation, every amendment or repeal thereof, and every order, requirement, decision, or determination of the Board shall be filed immediately in the office of the secretary of the Board and shall be a public record. The Board shall adopt its own rules of procedure not in conflict with this chapter or with the Iowa statutes in such case made and provided, and may select or appoint such officers as it deems necessary.

3.   Appeals. An appeal may be taken to the Zoning Board of Adjustment by any person or by any officer, department, board, or bureau affected by a decision of the Zoning Administrator. Such appeal shall be taken within such time as shall be prescribed by the Board by general rule, by filing with the Zoning Board of Adjustment a notice of appeal, specifying the grounds thereof. A fee in the amount of $150.00 shall be paid to the Zoning Administrator with the notice of appeal, and all such fees shall be credited to the General Fund of the City. The Zoning Administrator shall transmit to the Board all of the papers constituting the record upon which the appeal was taken. The Board shall render a decision on the appeal without unreasonable delay. Any person may appear and testify at the hearing either in person, or by a duly authorized agent or attorney.4.   Jurisdiction.

   A.   The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall hear and decide appeals from any order, requirement, decision or determination made by the Zoning Administrator on all matters pertaining to zoning.

   B.   The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall also hear and decide all matters referred to it or upon which it is required to pass under this chapter.

   C.   The Zoning Board of Adjustment may reverse, affirm wholly or partly, or may modify or amend the order, requirements, decision, or determination appealed from to the extent and in the manner that the Zoning Board of Adjustment may decide be fitting and proper. The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall also have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal was taken.

   D.   When a property owner shows that a strict application of the terms of this chapter relating to the use, construction, or alteration of buildings and structures, or to the use of land that imposes upon him practical difficulties or particular hardships, then the Board may make such variations of the strict application of the terms of this chapter as are in harmony with its general purpose and intent. When the Board is satisfied, under the evidence heard before it, that a granting of such variation will not merely serve as a convenience to the applicant, but is necessary to alleviate some demonstrable hardship or difficulty so great as to warrant a variation in the following instances:

      (1)   To permit the extension of a district where the boundary line of a district divides a single ownership as shown on record, such extensions of any district will not exceed 100 feet.

      (2)   To permit the reconstruction of a nonconforming building which has been destroyed or damaged to an extent of more than 50 percent of its value, by fire, or act of God, or the public enemy, where the Board shall find some compelling public necessity requiring a continuation of the nonconforming use, but in no case shall such a permit be issued if its primary function is to continue a monopoly.

      (3)   To permit the erection and use of a building, or the use of land in any location for a public service corporation for public utility purposes which the Board deems reasonably necessary for the public convenience or welfare.

      (4)   To make a variance where, by reason of an exceptional situation, surroundings, or condition of a specific piece of property, or by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or shape of a specific piece of property of record, or by reason of exceptional topographical conditions, the strict application of any provision of this chapter would result in peculiar hardship upon the owner of such property, and amount to a practical confiscation of property, as distinguished from a mere inconvenience to such owner, provided such relief can be granted without substantially impairing the general purpose and intent of the Comprehensive Plan as established by the regulations and provisions contained in this chapter.

      (5)   To interpret the provisions of this chapter where the street layout actually on the ground varies from the street layout as shown on the Official Zoning Map fixing the several districts.

      (6)   To waive the parking requirements in the business or industrial districts whenever the character or use of the building is such as to make unnecessary the full provision of parking facilities, or where such regulations would impose an unreasonable hardship upon the use of the lot, as contrasted with merely granting an advantage or a convenience.

      (7)   To permit land within 200 feet of a multiple dwelling to be improved for the parking spaces required in connection with a multiple dwelling, but only when there is positive assurance that such land can be used for such purposes, for the use of the occupants of the multiple dwelling.

   E.   In considering all appeals and all proposed variations to this chapter, the Board shall first determine, before making any variation from this chapter in a specific case, that the proposed variation will not:

      (1)   Impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property.

      (2)   Increase the congestion in public streets.

      (3)   Increase the danger of fire or endanger the public safety.

      (4)   Diminish or impair established property values within the surrounding area.

      (5)   Impair the public health, safety, comfort, morals, or welfare of the inhabitants of the City.

The concurring vote of four members of the Board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision, or determination of the Zoning Administrator, to decide in favor of the applicant any matter upon which it is authorized to render a decision.

   F.   Nothing herein contained shall be construed to give or grant to the Board the power of authority to alter or change the Zoning Ordinance, or the Official Zoning Map, such power and authority being reserved to the Council in the manner hereinafter provided.

5.   Notification. The Board shall make no decision except in a specific case and after a public hearing conducted by the Board. The Board shall select a reasonable time and place for the hearing of the appeal and give due notice by letter thereof to the property owners within 300 feet in all directions. Such notice shall contain the address or location of the property for which the variance or other ruling by the Board is sought, as well as a brief description of the nature of the appeal. Notice of time and place of hearing shall be published at least once in a newspaper in general circulation in the City not less than seven days or more than 20 days before such hearing.

6.   Relief. Any person or persons, taxpayer, officer, department, board, jointly or severally aggrieved by any decision of the Board shall have recourse to such relief as is provided by statute.