(A) Establishment of Board of Adjustment. The City Council is hereby established as the Board of Adjustment and vested with the authority as is provided by state statutes. The findings and rulings of the Board of Adjustment shall be final.
(B) Purpose. Request for variance from the literal provisions of this chapter, including variances in the Cannon Recreational River District, may be made in instances when the applicant establishes that there are practical difficulties in complying with the zoning ordinance. PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES, as used in connection with the granting of a variance, means that the property owner proposes to use the property in a reasonable manner not permitted by this chapter; the plight of the landowner is due to circumstances unique to the property not created by the landowner; and the variance, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality. Economic considerations alone do not constitute practical difficulties. Practical difficulties include, but are not limited to, inadequate access to direct sunlight for solar energy systems. A variance for a use that is not allowed under this chapter for property in the zone where the affected person’s land is located is not permitted.
(C) Findings. In acting upon the request for a variance, the City Council shall make the following findings of fact.
(1) The proposed variance will not impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property.
(2) The proposed variance will not unreasonably increase the congestion in the public street.
(3) The proposed variance is in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the ordinance and is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
(4) The need for a variance is due to circumstances unique to the property and is not created by the landowner.
(5) The applicant experiences practical difficulties, other than economic hardship alone, in complying with the existing zoning ordinance.
(6) Conditions imposed in the granting of a variance are directly related to and bear a rough proportionality to the impact created by the variance.
(D) Limitations.
(1) A violation of any condition set forth in granting a variance shall be a violation of this chapter and automatically make the variance null and void.
(2) Unless within one year from the date the variance is approved, a building permit has been issued, and the work as permitted by the variance has been substantially completed, then the variance shall be null and void.
(3) A variance is valid only for the particular project for which it was granted.
(Ord. passed 3-20-2002, § 20, sub. 4)