The board shall consist of 9 members, appointed by the mayor. Two shall be appointed for one year; 2 for 2 years; 2 for 3 years; 2 for 4 years; and one for 5 years. The term of the member of the city planning commission shall expire at the same time as his term of the commission. A member appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve for the unexpired term.
(A) The board shall have the power to exercise the jurisdiction provided in this chapter. In exercising its jurisdiction, it shall adopt from time to time such general rules and regulations relating to its procedure as it may deem necessary. The board shall organize annually and elect a president, vice-president, and secretary. The president, or in his absence, the officer presiding, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses.
(B) Hearings and meetings of the board shall be public. Notice of the hearing of each appeal case shall be given by publication one time in a newspaper of general circulation not less than 6 days in advance of the hearing. The board may go into executive session for discussion, but not for vote on any case before it. The board shall act by resolution, in which at least 5 members shall concur. Concise records and minutes shall be kept as to all official acts of the board. A majority of the members of the board shall be a quorum.
(C) Appeals to the board may be taken by any person or by any officer, board, or commission of the municipality affected by any grant or refusal of a building permit, or by any other decision of the commissioner of buildings, where the decision is based upon the requirements of this chapter. The appeal shall be filed with the board within 30 days from the ruling or decision of the commissioner of buildings appealed from. The board may, in conformity with the provisions of this chapter, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision, ruling, or break determination appealed from.
(D) Where the street or lot layout actually on the ground or as recorded differs from the street and lot lines as shown on the building zone map, the board, after due notice by registered mail to the record owners of the property, shall interpret the map in such a way as to carry out the intent and purpose of this chapter and map for the particular sections or district in question.
(E) The board shall have the power to permit in business districts a prohibited use, as accessory to a conforming use on the same lot, subject to such conditions as will, in the opinion of the board, safeguard the public health, safety, convenience, and welfare; provided that the product of such accessory use is utilized entirely in the conforming use.
(F) In undeveloped sections of the city, the board may grant temporary and conditional permits for nonconforming uses, to terminate at a date specified in the grant, which date shall not exceed 2 years from the date of the grant; provided that such uses are important to the development of such undeveloped sections, and are not detrimental to the adjoining and neighboring developed section. Such permits may be renewed, upon reapplication to the board.
(G) The board shall have the power to grant the extension of a nonconforming use or building upon a lot occupied by such use or building, or on a lot adjoining or directly across an alley; provided that such lot was under the same ownership as the lot in question on the effective date of this chapter, and where the extension is necessarily incident to an existing use; and provided further that the extension shall not extend more than 25 feet beyond a district boundary line into a more restricted district. The board shall have the power to permit a substitution for or an extension to nonconforming uses, but not both substitution and extension, except that, in the Residence District, no change shall be permitted to any use prohibited in the Business "A" District, or no change shall be permitted to any use prohibited in the Business "B" District.
(H) The board shall have the power to grant the projection of any building into a required yard, to the extent necessary to secure a building or structure practicable in its construction and arrangement on an exceptionally narrow, shallow, or irregular lot existing and of record on the effective date of this chapter, or on a lot of exceptional topography.
(I) The board may permit the erection of a private garage prior to the erection of a principal building on the premises.
(J) Where the strict application of any provision of this chapter would result in undue hardship upon the owner of specific property, or where there is a reasonable doubt as to any provision of this chapter or the building zone map as applied to such property, the board shall have the power to modify such strict application, or to interpret the meaning of this chapter so as to relieve such hardship; provided that such modification and interpretation shall remain in harmony with the general purpose and intent of this chapter, so that the public health, safety, convenience, comfort, prosperity, and general welfare will be conserved and substantial justice done.
(K) No permit for the establishment of a restricted parking lot in the Residence District, in accordance with § 150.06 (K) (1), shall be issued unless approved by the board. In granting approval, the board may impose special conditions as it shall deem desirable under the circumstances to reduce the adverse effect of a parking lot upon the preservation of the residential character and development of the residence district in which such parking lot is located.
(L) The board may, upon application, issue a temporary and conditional permit authorizing the maintenance, in the Residence District, of an enclosure for horses, cows, and other livestock, not primarily for gain, at a distance of less than 100 feet from the line of an adjoining lot in the Residence District, if such adjoining lot is not improved with a residence building situated within 100 feet of the proposed enclosure for livestock. Such enclosure, so permitted, shall, in every case, be not less than 100 feet from the nearest line of every residence building, and such permit, and all right to maintain any structure or use thereunder, shall expire whenever the enclosure shall cease to conform to the conditions set forth in this section, or to conform with additional limitations which may be determined by the board.
('73 Code, § 150.14) Penalty, see § 150.99