Zoning Board of Adjustments

Zoning Board of Adjustments
The Planning Department serves as the liaison for the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA). The ZBA consists of five regular members and two alternate members appointed by the City Council. Members serve for a period of two years and until their successors are duly appointed and qualified.
 
The ZBA has the authority to exercise the following powers and perform the following duties:
 
  1. Hear and decide an appeal that alleges error in an order, requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative official in the enforcement of the City’s Zoning Ordinance;
  2. Authorize the expansion or continuation of a nonconforming structure; and
  3. Authorize in specific cases a variance from Zoning Ordinance if the variance is not contrary to the public interest and, due to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the ordinance would result in unnecessary hardship, and so that the spirit of this Ordinance is observed and substantial justice is done.
In order to grant a variance, the ZBA must make written findings that an undue hardship exists, using the following criteria:
 
  1. That literal enforcement of the controls will create an unnecessary hardship or practical difficulty in the development of the affected property;
  2. That the situation causing the hardship or difficulty is neither self-imposed nor generally affecting all or most properties in the same zoning district;
  3. That the relief sought will not injure the permitted use of adjacent conforming property; and
  4. That the granting of a variance will be in harmony with the spirit and purpose of these regulations.
A variance shall not be granted to relieve a self-created or personal hardship, nor shall it be based solely on economic gain or loss, nor shall it permit any person a privilege in developing a parcel of land not permitted by the Zoning Ordinance to other parcels of land in the particular zoning district. No variance may be granted which results in undue hardship on another parcel of land.