Chapter 2.80
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS
Sections:
2.80.010 Creation and membership.
2.80.020 Meetings and hearings – Record-keeping.
2.80.040 Appeal – Stay of proceedings.
2.80.010 Creation and membership.
A. A zoning board of appeals is established. “Board,” when used in this chapter, means the zoning board of appeals.
B. The board shall consist of three members appointed by the village president and the board of trustees. The members of the board shall serve for a term of five years.
C. One of the members of the board shall be designated by the village president and board of trustees as chairman of the board and shall hold his office as chairman until his successor is appointed. Such chairman, or in his absence the acting chairman, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses.
D. The village president shall have the power to remove any member of the board for cause and after a public hearing. Vacancies upon the board shall be filled for the unexpired term of the member whose place has become vacant in the manner provided in this chapter for the appointment of such member. (Ord. 2021-18 § 3, 2021)
2.80.020 Meetings and hearings – Record-keeping.
A. All meetings of the board of appeals shall be held at the call of the chairman and at such times as the board may determine. All hearings conducted by the board shall be open to the public.
B. The board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its hearings and other official actions. Findings of fact shall be included in the minutes of each case of a requested variation, and the reasons for making or denying such variation shall be specified.
C. 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 board and with the village clerk and shall be a public record.
D. The board shall adopt its own rules of procedure not in conflict with this chapter or with the statutes.
2.80.030 Appeal – Filing.
An appeal may be taken to the board of appeals by any person, firm or corporation, or by any village officer, department, board, bureau or committee of the village board affected by a decision of the zoning enforcement official. Such appeal shall be taken within such time as shall be prescribed by the board of appeals by general rule, by filing with the zoning administrator and with the board of appeals a notice of appeal, specifying the grounds thereof. The zoning administrator shall forthwith transmit to the board all of the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken.
2.80.040 Appeal – Stay of proceedings.
An appeal shall stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the zoning administrator certifies to the board of appeals after the 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 which may be granted by the board of appeals or by a court of record on application, on notice to the zoning administrator on due cause shown.
2.80.050 Appeal – Hearing.
The board shall select a reasonable time and place for the hearing of the appeal and give due notice thereof to the parties and shall render a decision on the appeal without unreasonable delay. Any person may appear and testify at the hearing, either in person or by duly authorized agent or attorney.
2.80.060 Appeal – Fee.
A fee of one hundred dollars shall be paid to the village treasurer, to the credit of the general fund of the village.
2.80.070 Jurisdiction.1
A. The board of appeals shall hear and decide appeals from any order, requirement, decision or determination made by the zoning enforcement official involving the zoning ordinance.
B. It shall also hear and decide all matters referred to it or upon which it is required to pass under this chapter and shall possess all the powers conferred upon it by statute.
C. The board may reverse or affirm wholly or partly or may modify or amend the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from to the extent and in the manner that the board may decide to be fitting and proper in the premises, and to that end the board shall also have all the powers of the officer from which the appeal is taken.
D. When a property owner shows that a strict application of the terms of the zoning ordinance relating to the use, construction or alteration of buildings or structures, or to the use of the land, imposes upon him practical difficulties or practical hardship, then the board may make such variation of the strict application of the terms of the zoning ordinance as is in harmony with its general purposes 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 lot in single ownership as shown of record;
2. To permit the reconstruction of a nonconforming building which has been destroyed or damaged to an extent of more than sixty 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 continuance of the nonconforming use, and 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 premises 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 provisions of the zoning ordinance would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties or particular 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 substantial detriment to the public good and without substantially impairing the general purpose and intent of the comprehensive plan as established by the regulations and provisions contained in the zoning ordinance;
5. To interpret the provisions of the zoning ordinance where the street layout actually on the ground varies from the street layout as shown on the district map fixing the several districts;
6. To extend the period within which a nonconforming commercial or industrial use is to be removed from a dwelling district, when the owner or owners can furnish substantial proof that the building was so extensively remodeled, reconstructed or structurally altered after the original construction that it practically resulted in a new building but such extension of the period shall not exceed forty years from the date of such remodeling, reconstruction or structural alteration;
7. To waive such parking requirements as may hereafter be adopted in the commercial 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;
8. To permit land within two hundred feet of a multiple-family dwelling to be improved for such parking spaces as may hereafter be required in connection with a multiple dwelling, but only when there is positive assurance that such land can be used for such purpose during the existence of the multiple dwelling.
E. In considering all appeals and all proposed variations to the zoning ordinance the board shall, before making any variation from the zoning ordinance in a specific case, first determine that the proposed variation will not impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property, or unreasonably increase the congestion in public streets, or increase the danger of fire, or endanger the public safety, or unreasonably diminish or impair established property values within the surrounding area, or in other respects impair the public health, safety, comfort, morals or welfare of the inhabitants of the village. The concurring vote of five members of the board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirements, decision or determination of the chairman of the committee on buildings and public grounds or to decide in favor of the applicant any matter upon which it is authorized by this chapter to render a decision. Copies of all findings, orders and decisions of the board shall be transmitted to the board of trustees for their information and records.
Code reviser’s note: See also RMC 17.03.030.