§ 153.235  GENERAL PROVISIONS.
   (A)   Board of Adjustments.  The City Council shall be the Board of Adjustments for the city, and as provided by M.S. §  462.354, Subd. 2, shall have the powers granted under M.S. § 462.357, Subd. 6, as they may be amended from time to time.
   (B)   Variances.
      (1)   Pursuant to M.S.  § 462.357, Subd. 6, as it may be amended from time to time, the City Council, acting as the Board of Adjustments, may issue variances from the provisions of the Zoning Code. A VARIANCE is a modification or variation of the provisions of this Zoning Code as applied to a specific piece of property.
      (2)   Variances shall only be permitted:
         (a)   When they are in harmony with the general purposes and intent of the Zoning Code;
         (b)   When the variance is consistent with the Comprehensive Plan; and
         (c)   When the applicant for the variance establishes that there are practical difficulties in complying with the Zoning Code. PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES, as used in connection with the granting of a variance, means that:
            1.   The property owner proposes to use the property in a reasonable manner not permitted by the Zoning Code;
            2.   The plight of the landowner is due to circumstances unique to the property not created by the landowner;
            3.   The variance, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality; and
            4.   Economic considerations alone do not constitute PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIESPRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES include, but are not limited to, inadequate access to direct sunlight for solar energy systems.
      (3)   Use variances prohibited. The City Council may not permit as a variance any use that is not permitted under the Zoning Code for property in the district where the affected person’s land is located. The City Council may permit as a variance the temporary use of a one-family dwelling as a two-family dwelling. The City Council may impose conditions in the granting of a variance to ensure compliance and to protect adjacent properties. Conditions must be directly related to and must bear a rough proportionality to the impact created by the variance.
(Ord. 209.5, passed 12-14-1994; Am. Ord. 288, passed 10-5-2011; Am. Ord. 346, passed 12-1-2021)