The building department, upon receipt of an application for adjustment of landscaping requirements provided herein, shall have the authority and duty to consider and act upon such application. The applicant shall, in the application, clearly and in detail, state what adjustments of the requirements are being requested and the reasons such adjustments are warranted, and shall accompany the application with such supplementary data, such as sketches, surveys and statistical information as is deemed necessary to substantiate the adjustment. The building department may approve, modify or deny the requested adjustment, but shall approve or modify only if it determines that approval of any adjustment would be contrary to the public interest and would be in keeping with and would preserve the intent of this chapter, and that literal enforcement of the above standards would be impractical and would result in unreasonable and unnecessary hardship. The building department shall act as expeditiously as possible on the application, and shall state its decision in the form of a short, concise statement of action taken that shall be served on the applicant by mailing the same to him at the address on the application. (2003 Code § 11-12-10)