(A) Board of Appeals and Adjustments. The Planning Commission shall be the Board of Appeals and Adjustments for this city, and, as provided by M.S. § 462.354, Subd. 2, shall have the powers granted under M.S. § 462.357, Subd. 6, as may be amended from time to time.
(B) Variances. Pursuant to M.S. § 462.357, Subd. 6, as may be amended from time to time, the Planning Commission, acting as a Board of Appeals and Adjustments, may issue variances from the provisions of this zoning code. A VARIANCE is a modification or variation of the provisions of this zoning code as applied to a specific piece of property.
(1) Variances shall only be permitted when they are:
(a) In harmony with the general purposes and intent of the zoning ordinance; and
(b) Consistent with the comprehensive plan.
(2) Variances may be granted when the applicant for the variance establishes that there are practical difficulties in complying with the zoning ordinance.
(C) As used in connection with the granting of a variance, PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES mean that:
(1) The property owner proposes to use the property in a reasonable manner not permitted by the zoning ordinance;
(2) The plight of the landowner is due to circumstances unique to the property not created by the landowner; and
(3) The variance, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality.
(4) 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.
(D) Variances shall be granted for earth sheltered construction, as defined in M.S. § 216C.06, Subd. 14, when in harmony with the zoning ordinance. The Board of Appeals and Adjustments may not permit as a variance any use that is not allowed under the zoning ordinance for property in the zone where the affected person’s land is located. The Board may permit as a variance the temporary use of a one-family dwelling as a two-family dwelling. The Board may impose conditions in the granting of variances. A condition must be directly related to and must bear a rough proportionality to the impact created by the variance.
(E) In a Floodway or Flood Fringe Districts, no variance shall permit a lower degree of flood protection than the regulatory flood protection elevation for that particular area, or permit standards lower than those required by state law.
(2003 Code, § 9.61-3) (Ord. passed 2-16-1953; Ord. 77-4, passed 4-8-1977; Ord. 192, passed 11-19-2018)
Editor’s Note:
If a mobile home park is converted to another use requiring a variance or zoning change, the Planning Commission must give notice of hearing to each occupant. See M.S. § 327C.095.