Washington Grove City Zoning Code

This Article establishes the maximum limits of development allowed within the Town. There is a presumption that these limitations are appropriate and fitting. However, there may be exceptional cases where the limitations of this Article regarding area, bulk, set-backs, and height should not be strictly enforced. Accordingly, the Board of Zoning Appeals may in strict compliance with the provisions of Subsection 12.2 grant a variance from these limitations.

(a) The Board may grant a variance if the Board finds on the basis of preponderance of evidence in the record that each of the following conditions exists:

(1) The Town has denied the applicant a building permit for the building for which a variance is sought (if the building requires a building permit).

(2) The variance requests relief from the requirements of this Article that govern:

a. the area of a lot;
b. the dimensions of a lot;
c. the height of a building;
d. the percentage of lot coverage; or
e. the location of a building on a lot.

(3) The applicant is the owner of the lot.

(4) Granting a variance is not contrary to the public interest.

(5) Requiring the applicant to comply with the requirements in subparagraph (2) would result in practical difficulty to the applicant. Practical difficulty means that the strict application of this Article would prevent the applicant from using the lot for a permitted purpose or would render conformity with the requirements in subparagraph (2) unnecessarily burdensome.  Reasonable uses are those uses specified in Sections 7.2(a) and (b) (for a residential lot) and those uses specified in Section 8.2 (for a commercial lot).

(6) The condition which forms the basis for granting the variance arises exclusively from the dimensions, shape, topography, or other extraordinary characteristics of the lot.

(7) The condition which forms the basis for granting the variance is peculiar to the lot in question and is not common to other lots in the vicinity.

(b) The Board must not permit a use of land that is not permitted in the zone in which the lot is located.

(c) The following conditions taken singly or in combination are not a basis for granting a variance:

(1) a violation of law;
(2) the existence of a non-conforming use or building;
(3) the granting of a variance on another lot;
(4) a condition that results from an action of the applicant.

(d) In granting a variance, the Board may only permit the least departure from the limitations of this Article that will give relief to the applicant.

(e) The Board may attach conditions to the grant of a variance that it considers to be necessary to accomplish the least departure from this Article.

No order granting a variance is valid for a period of more than 6 months from the date of issue, unless an application for a building permit incorporating the variance has been approved and construction begun within that period.

An application for a variance must be made to the Board which sets forth the regulation under which the building permit was denied, the manner in which the lot is exceptional or peculiar, and the manner in which the applicant wishes the regulation to be varied.

On each application for a variance, a public hearing must be held and a written opinion made public, as prescribed in Section 11.3.