The Board shall have the following powers and duties.
(A) Bylaws. The Board shall adopt bylaws for its own government and shall keep minutes and records of all proceedings.
(B) Administrative review. The Board shall hear and decide upon appeals from decisions of the Enforcement Officer. The Board shall decide on questions involving literal interpretations of the zoning order, shall interpret the exact location of zoning district boundaries, and shall make only those other interpretations and decisions specifically delegated to it by the provisions of the zoning order.
(C) Conditional uses. The Board shall have the authority to approve or disapprove applications for only those conditional uses upon which it has been specifically delegated to act by the provisions of the zoning order. The Board may approve, modify, or deny any application for a conditional use permit. If it approves such permit, it may attach necessary conditions such as time limitations, requirements that one or more things be done before the request can be initiated, or conditions of a continuing nature. Any such conditions shall be recorded in the Board’s minutes and on the conditional use permit. The granting of a conditional use permit does not exempt the applicant from complying with all the requirements of building, housing, and other applicable regulations.
(D) Variance.
(1) The Board shall have the power to hear and decide on applications for dimensional variances where, by reason of the exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or unusual shape of a site on the effective date of the zoning regulation or by reason of exception topographic conditions, or some other extraordinary situation or condition of that site, the literal enforcement of the dimensional requirements (height or width of building or size of yards, but no population density) of the zoning regulation would deprive the applicant of reasonable capacity to make use of the land in a manner equivalent to the use permitted other landowners in the same zone. The Board may impose any reasonable conditions or restrictions on any variance it decides to grant.
(2) Before any dimensional variance is granted, the Board must find all of the following, which shall be recorded along with any imposed conditions or restrictions in its minutes and records and issued in written form to the applicant to constitute proof of the dimensional variance:
(a) The specific conditions in detail which are unique to the applicant’s land and do not exist on other land in the same zone;
(b) The manner in which the strict application of the provisions of the regulation would deprive the applicant of a reasonable use of the land in the manner equivalent to the use permitted other landowners in the same zone;
(c) The unique conditions and circumstances are not the result of actions of the applicant taken subsequent to the adoption of the zoning regulation; and
(d) Reasons that the variance will preserve, not harm the public safety and welfare, and will not alter the essential character of the neighborhood.
(E) Other variances. The Board is also empowered to approve, disapprove, or approve conditionally applications for the following.
(1) Variances from the requirements for noise level emission from industrial uses upon finding that bringing the source of the sound or activity for which the variance is sought into compliance would constitute an unreasonable hardship on the applicant, on the community, or on other persons. A separate application shall be filed for each source; provided, however, that several mobile sources under common ownership, or several fixed sources on a single property may be combined into one application.
(F) The Planning Commission shall also have authority to grant variances and issue conditional use permits only in the following circumstances.
(1) In conjunction with approval of subdivision plans. In conjunction with the review and approval of subdivision plans, the Planning Commission is authorized to grant dimension variances upon finding that:
(a) The variance is a result of customary design standards or innovative design which, in the Commission’s opinion, still achieve the basic objectives of the zoning laws and subdivision regulations; or
(b) Strict compliance with the regulations would create an undue hardship because of exceptional and unique topographic or other physical conditions encountered upon the particular land, and the resulting variance may be granted without detriment to the public good.
(2) In conjunction with the zoning map amendment.
(a) At the time of the filing of an application for a map amendment, the applicant may request to have one or more variances and/or one or more conditional use permits for the same development to be heard and finally decided by the Planning Commission at the same public hearing set for the map amendment.
(b) When so requested by the applicant, the Planning Commission shall hear and decide applications for variances or conditional use permits; and in such case, the Planning Commission shall assume all powers and duties otherwise exercised by the Board of Adjustments pursuant to KRS 100.231, 100.233, 100.237, 100.241, 100.243, 100.247, and 100.251. The decision of the Planning Commission shall be final.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the applicant from electing to have applications for variances or conditional use permits heard by the Board of Adjustments as otherwise provided in KRS Chapter 100 and this zoning code.
(Prior Code, § 5.2) (Ord. 20-82, passed 9-28-1982; Ord. 95-13, passed 7-27-1995)