“Hardship” means, as related to Article VII of this chapter, the exceptional hardship that would result from a failure to grant a requested variance. A variance must be exceptional, unusual and peculiar to the property involved. Mere economic or financial hardship alone is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one’s neighbors, likewise, cannot, as a rule, qualify as an exceptional hardship. All of these problems can be resolved through other means without granting a variance, even if the alternative is more expensive, or requires the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a different use than originally intended.
(Ord. 1397.15.22 § 1 (part), 2019; Ord. 1397.15.21 § 1 (part), 2007)