(A) (1) The Zoning Board of Appeals shall hear and decide appeals from an administrative order, requirement or determination made by the Building Inspector under this chapter or under the Building Code or Subdivision Code.
(2) An appeal may be taken to the Zoning Board of Appeals by any person, firm or corporation, or by any office, department, board, bureau or commission, aggrieved by an administrative order, requirement, decision or determination under this chapter by the Building Inspector.
(3) An appeal shall be filed with the Village Clerk and promptly referred to the Zoning Board of Appeals for processing in accordance with the requirements of Illinois Statutes.
(B) (1) Action by Zoning Board of Appeals.
(a) The Zoning Board of Appeals shall not recommend the adoption of a proposed variation until after it finds that the adoption of the variation is in the public interest and is not solely for the interest of the applicant. The Zoning Board of Appeals may recommend the adoption of a variation as set forth within this chapter.
(b) A concurring vote of a majority of those members present at the meeting with a minimum of three concurring votes shall be required to recommend granting or denying an application for a variation.
(c) The report to the Village Board of the proceedings shall contain the number of Commissioners present and names of those voting for or against the motion.
(2) Action by the President and Board of Trustees.
(a) The President and the Board of Trustees, upon receiving the recommendations of the Zoning Board of Appeals, may grant or deny any proposed variation in accordance with applicable state statutes or may refer it back to the Zoning Board of Appeals for further consideration.
(b) If an application for a proposed variation is not acted upon finally by the President and Board of Trustees within six months of the date upon which the application is received by the President and Board of Trustees, it shall be deemed to have been denied.
(3) Authorized variations.
(a) The Zoning Board of Appeals shall decide authorized variations of the provisions of this chapter in harmony with its general propose and intent, and shall grant them only in the specific instances where there are practical difficulties or particular hardship in the way of carrying out the strict letter of the regulations of this chapter.
(b) Any person, firm or corporation owning or having an interest in a lot or the Board of Trustees may apply for a variation.
(c) Processing application:
1. An application for a variation shall be filed with the Village Clerk on a form prescribed by the President and Board of Trustees. The application shall be accompanied by the plans or data, or both, as specified by the Zoning Board of Appeals, and shall include a statement, in writing, by the applicant and adequate evidence showing that the proposed variation will conform to the standards set forth herein for variations. Copies of the application shall be forwarded by the Village Clerk to the Zoning Board of Appeals with the request to hold a public hearing.
2. The applicant shall give notices of the public hearing as follows:
a. To the persons to whom the current real estate tax bills are sent, if any, as shown on the record of the local real estate tax assessor of all lots lying within 250 feet of the property line of the lot for which the variation is sought. All notices shall be in writing and shall give the time, place and propose of the hearing and shall be mailed not more than 30 days nor less than 15 days in advance of the hearing. The notice shall be sent by certified mail, properly addressed as shown on the Tax Assessor's rolls and with sufficient postage affixed thereon with return receipt requested. The applicant shall file a sworn affidavit with copies of the notices with the Village Clerk showing the names and addresses of all notices the applicant has sent. The affidavit shall be conclusive presumption of giving of the notices.
b. The applicant, at its own expense, shall cause a notice of time, place and purpose of the hearing to be published in a newspaper per of general circulation within the village not more than 30 days nor less than 15 days in advance of the hearing.
c. The applicant shall erect a sign or signs on the subject property not less than 15 days before the scheduled public hearing by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The sign(s) shall have on their surface a statement that the property is subject to a public hearing concerning its use, the name of the village and a statement concerning where further information may be obtained from the village. The sign shall not be removed until the Village Board has taken final action on the application or until the application is withdrawn. There shall be one sign erected for every public street frontage and it shall be clearly visible from the adjacent or nearest public right-of-way. All signs shall be furnished by the village after receiving from the applicant at the time of application a $100 deposit per sign. One hundred dollars per sign of the deposit(s) shall be returned to the applicant upon the timely return of the sign or signs in good condition. The initial placement of the sign on the property shall be the responsibility of the applicant and he or she shall submit an affidavit to the village affirming the date and location of placement of each required sign. Failure to post or maintain the sign shall not affect any action taken by the village.
d. Supplemental or additional notices may be distributed, published or posted as the Zoning Board of Appeals may, by role, prescribe from time to time.
e. Upon receipt in proper form of the application and statement referred to above, the Zoning Board of Appeals shall hold at least one public hearing on the proposed variation. However, the Zoning Board of Appeals may continue, from time to time, the hearing without further notices being published.
(C) (1) The Zoning Board of Appeals shall not vary the provisions of this chapter, as authorized in this section, unless it shall find:
(a) The property in question cannot yield a reasonable return if permitted to be used only under the conditions allowed by the regulations in that zoning district;
(b) The plight of the owner is due to unique circumstances; and
(c) The variation, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality.
(2) For the purpose of supplementing the above standards, the Zoning Board of Appeals, in making its decision whenever they are practical difficulties or particular hardship, shall also take into consideration the extent to which the following facts favorable to the applicant, have been established by the evidence that:
(a) The particular physical surroundings, shape or topographical conditions of the specific property involved would bring a particular hardship upon the owner as distinguished from a mere inconvenience if the regulations were strictly enforced;
(b) The conditions upon which the petition for variation is based would not be applicable generally to other properly within the same zoning classification;
(c) The purpose of the variation is not based exclusively upon a desire to make more money out of the property;
(d) The alleged difficulty or hardship has not been created by any person presently having an interest in the property;
(e) The granting of the variation will not be detrimental to the public welfare or injurious to other property or improvements in the neighborhood in which the property is located; or
(f) The proposed variation will not impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property or substantially increase the danger of fire or otherwise endanger the public safety or substantially diminish or impair property values within the neighborhood.
(3) The Zoning Board of Appeals may require such conditions and restrictions upon the premises benefitted by a variation as may be necessary to comply with the standards set forth in this section or reduce or minimize the injurious effect of the variation upon other property in the neighborhood and to implement the general purpose and intent of this chapter.
(D) Variations from the regulations of this chapter may be granted by the Zoning Board of Appeals only in accordance with the standards set forth in this section and only in the following instances and no others:
(1) To permit yards, spacing between buildings, and other required open spaces to have less width or depth than required by the district regulations, but not the elimination of required yard, spacing between buildings and other required open space;
(2) To permit the use of a lot not of record on the effective date of this chapter for the use otherwise prohibited solely because of the insufficient area of the lot;
(3) To permit parking lots to be illuminated later than 30 minutes after close of business;
(4) To reduce the required number of parking spaces to the extent of not more than 20% of the required number;
(5) To increase by not more than 25% the maximum distance that required parking spaces are permitted to be located from the use served;
(6) To permit the same off-street parking spaces to qualify as required spaces for two or more uses; provided that the maximum use of the facility by each uses does not take place during the same hours or on the same days of the week;
(7) To allow any permitted non-residential use in a residence district to exceed the floor area ratio imposed by the applicable regulations;
(8) To allow a principle building to be constructed across a lot line; and
(9) To permit the required lot area in any district to fall below the minimum set forth in a district in an amount not to exceed 3% of the required minimum lot area.
(1981 Code, Art. XII, C3) (Ord. passed 12- -1986; Am. Ord. 90-10, passed 6-4-1990; Am. Ord. 05-16, passed 8-1-2005; Am. Ord. 22-11, passed 4-4-2022)