(A) All appeals that may be taken from decisions or orders of the City Enforcement Officer pursuant to this chapter shall be heard and determined by the Board of Adjustment. As the appeals body, the Board of Adjustment shall have the power to set the times and places of its meetings, to adopt necessary rules of procedure, and to adopt any other rules and regulations that may be necessary for the proper discharge of its duties.
(B) Appeals shall be subject to the following:
(1) An appeal from any decision or order of the City Enforcement Officer may be taken by any person aggrieved thereby. Any appeal from the City Enforcement Officer shall be taken within ten days from the rendering of the decision or service of the order, and shall be taken by filing with the City Enforcement Officer and the Secretary to the Board of Adjustment a notice of appeal that shall specify the grounds upon which the appeal is based. Upon the filing of any notice of appeal, the City Enforcement Officer shall forthwith transmit to the Board of Adjustment all of the papers constituting the record upon which the decision under appeal was made. When the appeal is from a decision of the City Enforcement Officer refusing to allow the person aggrieved thereby to do any act, the City Enforcement Officer's decision shall remain in force until modified or reversed. When any appeal is from a decision of the City Enforcement Officer requiring the person aggrieved to do any act, the appeal shall have the effect of suspending the requirement until the hearing by the Board of Adjustment, unless the City Enforcement Officer certifies to the Board, after the notice of appeal is filed, that by reason of the facts stated in the certificate (a copy of which shall be furnished to the appellant) a suspension of the requirement would cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case the requirement shall not be suspended except by a restraining order that may be granted for due cause shown, upon not less than one day's written notice to the City Enforcement Officer, by the Board or by a court of record upon petition made pursuant to G.S. § 160D-1208(d) and § 152.20.
(2) The Board of Adjustment shall set a reasonable time for the hearing of all appeals, shall give notice to all the parties, and shall render its decision within a reasonable time. Any party may appear in person or by agent or attorney. The Board of Adjustment may reverse or affirm, in whole or in part, or may modify the decision or order appealed from and may make such decision and order as in its opinion ought to be made in the matter. To that end, the Board of Adjustment shall have all the powers of the City Enforcement Officer when ruling upon a duly filed appeal. A simple majority of the members of the Board of Adjustment shall be necessary to reverse or modify any decision or order of the City Enforcement Officer. When considering an appeal, the Board of Adjustment shall have the power, when practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships would result from carrying out the strict letter of the ordinance, to adapt the application of the ordinance to the necessities of the case by granting a variance to the end that the spirit of the ordinance shall be observed, public safety and welfare secured, and substantial justice done; provided, however, that the concurring vote of four-fifths of the members of the Board of Adjustment shall be necessary to grant a variance rather than the simple majority that is sufficient, when the variance power is not utilized, to reverse or modify a decision or order of the City Enforcement Officer.
(C) Every decision of the Board of Adjustment shall be subject to review by the Superior Court by proceedings in the nature of certiorari instituted within 30 days of the decision of the Board, but not otherwise.
(Ord. 22 ORD 12-14, passed 12-4- 14; Am. Ord. 36 ORD 12-21, passed 12-9-21)