The planning and zoning commission shall act as an appeals commission for the enforcement and regulation of the provisions of this title and shall have the following powers:

   A.   The commission shall hear and decide appeals from and review any order, requirement, decision or determination made by the building and zoning enforcement officer in the enforcement of this title.

   B.   The commission is also hereby authorized and delegated the authority to hear all petitions for change of zoning or for variations of this title or the provisions thereof, and applications for conditional use permits and shall submit its recommendations based upon finding of fact to the council for enactment by an amending ordinance or rejections.

   C.   The commission shall further have the powers and duties as follows:

      1.   To designate land suitable for annexations to the municipality and the recommended zoning classification for such land upon annexation.

      2.   To recommend to the council from time to time such changes in the comprehensive plan, or any part thereof, as may be deemed necessary.

      3.   To prepare and recommend to the council, from time to time, plans and/or recommendations for specific improvements pursuant to the official comprehensive plan.

      4.   To cooperate with other municipal or regional planning commissions and other agencies or groups to further the local planning program and to assure harmonious and integrated planning for the area.

      5.   To carry out the duties accorded to it by the land subdivision control provisions of the city 1 .

   D.   The commission shall have no authority to authorize any conditional use, amendment, or variance of this title.

   E.   The concurring vote of at least four (4) members of the commission shall be necessary to recommend any conditional use, variance or of zoning or to reverse any order, requirement or decision of the building and zoning enforcement officer. (1971 Code; amd. Ord. 939, 8-13-1984)

Any person aggrieved by a ruling of the building and zoning enforcement officer, respecting the interpretation of this title or any officer, department, board or bureau of the city affected by a ruling of the building and zoning enforcement officer concerning the interpretation of this title may take an appeal to the planning and zoning commission in the following manner:

   A.   Such appellant shall, within fifteen (15) days after the building and zoning enforcement officer's decision, file a written notice of appeal both with the building and zoning enforcement officer and the secretary of the planning and zoning commission, together with a filing fee as hereinafter required. The building and zoning enforcement officer shall forthwith transmit to the commission all papers constituting the record upon which his action was taken.

   B.   The commission, upon receipt of any notice of appeal, shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal, but not less than fifteen (15) days nor more than thirty (30) days after receipt of such notice of appeal and give written notice of such hearing to the appellant, the building and zoning enforcement officer and to any other department of the city which might be affected by the appeal. (1971 Code; amd. Ord. 939, 8-13-1984)

   A.   The appeal shall stay all proceedings and furtherance of the action appealed from unless the building and zoning enforcement officer shall certify to the commission, after notice of appeal has been filed with him, that by reason of facts stated in the certificate a stay would, in his opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case the proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order granted by the commission or by a court of competent jurisdiction with notice to the building and zoning enforcement officer and all due causes shown.

   B.   The commission shall hear and decide the appeal within a reasonable time but in no event more than thirty (30) days after its final adjournment of the hearing. At the hearing, parties in interest may appear in person or by agent or attorney and testify and offer evidence relevant and material to the issue.

   C.   The commission may reverse or affirm, in whole or in part, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination as, in its opinion, ought to have been made in the premises, and to that end shall have all the powers of the building and zoning enforcement officer. (1971 Code; amd. Ord. 939, 8-13-1984)

   A.   The council may from time to time by duly enacted ordinance, amend supplement, change or vary this title, or may grant a conditional use permit thereunder, however, no such amending ordinance shall be passed or conditional use permit granted except in the following manner:

      1.   The person or party so desiring such amendment, variance or change, or conditional use permit shall file a petition in duplicate, in the form provided by the city, directed to the council and planning and zoning commission, together with a filing fee as hereby required, with the administrator not less than fourteen (14) days prior to a regular meeting of the planning and zoning commission. The administrator shall immediately forward appropriate copies of the petition to any officer or administrative department affected by said petition.

      2.   The commission at its next regular meeting shall fix a time for the hearing on the petition. Notice shall be given of the time and place of such hearing not more than thirty (30) days nor less than fifteen (15) days before the hearing, by publishing the notice thereof at least once in one or more newspapers published in the city and by registered or certified mail to the petitioner. Such notice shall contain the address or location of the property involved, as well as a brief description of the nature of the petition.

      3.   The commission shall hear the petition and evidenced related thereto and make its recommendations to the council within a reasonable time but in no event more than thirty (30) days after its final adjournment of the hearing. At the hearing, parties in interest may appear in person or by agent or attorney and testify and offer evidence relevant and material to the petition.

      4.   In the event of a written protest against any proposed amendment of the ordinance, or variance thereof, or the proposed conditional use, signed and acknowledged by the owners of twenty percent (20%) of the frontage proposed to be altered, or by owners of twenty percent (20%) of the frontage immediately adjoining or across an alley therefrom, or by the owners of twenty percent (20%) of the frontage directly opposite the frontage proposed to be altered, is filed with the administrator on or before the date of the hearing thereon, the amendment shall not be passed, or the permit granted except by a favorable vote of at least two-thirds (2/3) of the council regardless of the recommendations of the planning and zoning commission.

   B.   No variation, amendment or permit shall be allowed:

      1.   To permit a nonconforming use which will materially interfere with the use of the adjoining premises in conformity with the regulations applicable to the use district in which it is located.

      2.   To permit a billboard to be erected or maintained.

      3.   To permit a nonconforming use in any residential district, excepting that when there are two (2) or more similar nonconforming uses in the same block, a variation may be allowed:

         a.   To alter or remodel a single-family residence so as to provide for two (2) dwelling units therein;

         b.   To erect, reconstruct, alter or remodel a building in an A residential district for an apartment house; and

         c.   To erect, reconstruct, alter or remodel a building in a residential district for a use permitted in the commercial district.

      4.   To permit a nonconforming industrial district use in a commercial district:

         a.   Unless it is an extension of a permitted nonconforming use by enlarging a building or erecting additional buildings as part of one establishment upon a lot or lots adjoining a lot on which such nonconforming use exists; or

         b.   Unless a separate tract, the title of which was of record on the effective date of this title, is divided by a district boundary line, but such variance shall be limited to the use permitted in the adjoining district and shall not be extended more than twenty five feet (25') beyond the district boundary line. (1971 Code; amd. Ord. 939, 8-13-1984)