The Council of the City of East Cleveland shall by ordinance provide for the districting or zoning of the City of East Cleveland to promote the public health, safety, convenience, comfort, morals, prosperity and general welfare, including the promotion of home ownership, the protection of residence sections, the prevention of congestion, the increasing of trade and industrial efficiency, the conservation of property values, the assurance of adequate light and air, and the limitation, control and regulation of buildings in the city in accordance with a well established plan of use, height, size and area for all property and its development in the City of East Cleveland.
Districting and zoning shall include provisions to regulate, restrict and specify the locations of trades, industries, apartment houses, dwellings and other use of property, the number of square feet of lot area per family, the size of buildings or parts thereof, the location and size of side, front and rear yards, and the height of buildings; shall provide for the division of the city into use districts, height districts and area districts; shall provide for the alignment or setback of buildings and other structures; and shall provide maps showing said districts and structure alignment or setback.
Nothing herein shall be construed to limit the Council in the exercise of all the powers to zone or re-district now or hereafter authorized by the Constitution or statutes of the State of Ohio.
The plan or plans providing for the control, limitations and regulations of building lines or setback building lines may be incorporated in a separate ordinance as part of the zoning plan and subject to all of the Board of Zoning Appeals provisions of this Charter.
The districting or zoning ordinance shall provide for a Board of Zoning Appeals which shall consist of the Mayor, who shall act as Chairman, the Director of Health, the Chief of the Police Department, the Chief of the Fire Department, all of whom shall serve until their successors are appointed and qualified, and a member of the Mayor’s staff, other than the City Engineer, to be appointed by the Mayor, with the approval of the Council. The City Engineer shall act as Secretary. All meetings of the Board of Zoning Appeals shall be public. Public notice shall be given of hearings on any appeals from the decisions of department heads by the posting of a notice on the bulletin board in the main entrance of the City Hall for a period of at least three (3) days, together with such additional notice, if any, that the Board of Zoning Appeals shall deem necessary. The Board of Zoning Appeals shall keep minutes of its proceedings.
The Board of Zoning Appeals shall determine all matters properly presented to it and where practical difficulties and unnecessary hardships shall result from the strict compliance with or the enforcement of the provisions of the districting or zoning ordinance, the Board of Zoning Appeals shall have the power to grant variances in harmony with the general intent of the ordinance and to secure the general welfare and substantial justice in the promotion of the public health, comfort, convenience, morals, safety and general welfare of the City of East Cleveland. The Council of the City of East Cleveland shall have the power to approve, amend, modify or reverse any decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals if the Council finds that the decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals is contrary to the purpose and intent of the provisions of the districting or zoning ordinance.
The Council of the City of East Cleveland may from time to time amend, repeal or adopt any or all of the provisions of the districting or zoning ordinance, but no amendment, repeal or adoption shall be passed until the Council shall have held a public hearing thereon and shall have given at least five (5) days’ notice of the time and place thereof in a newspaper of general circulation in the Municipality, and during said five (5) days the text or a copy of the text of such amendment, repeal or adoption, together with the maps or plans or copies thereof forming part of or referred to in said ordinance, measure or regulation, shall be on file with the Clerk of the Council for public examination and a copy of the text of such amendment, repeal or adoption shall be placed on the bulletin board in the main entrance of the City Hall.
(Amended 11-7-72)