(A) All appeals which may be taken from decisions or orders of the Enforcement Officer pursuant to this article shall be heard and determined by the Board of Adjustment. As the appeals body, the Board shall have the power to fix the times and places of its meetings, to adopt necessary rules of procedure and any other rules and regulations which may be necessary for the proper discharge of its duties.
(B) Appeals shall be subject to the following:
(1) An appeal from any decision or order of the Enforcement Officer may be taken by any person aggrieved thereby, and otherwise entitled to bring an appeal under applicable state law. Any appeal from the Enforcement Officer shall be taken within ten days from the rendering of the decision or service of the order, and shall be taken by filing with the Enforcement Officer’s Department Head or their designee and with the Board of Adjustment a notice of appeal which shall specify the grounds upon which the appeal is based. Upon the filing of any notice of appeal, the Enforcement Officer shall forthwith transmit to the Board all the papers constituting the record upon which the decision appealed from was made. When the appeal is from a decision of the Enforcement Officer refusing to allow the person aggrieved thereby to do any act, the Enforcement Officer’s decision shall remain in force until modified or reversed. When any appeal is from a decision of the Enforcement Officer requiring the person aggrieved to do any act, the appeal shall have the effect of suspending the requirement until the hearing by the Board, unless the Enforcement Officer certifies to the Board, after the notice of appeal is filed, that by reason of the facts stated in the certificate (a copy of which shall be furnished the appellant) a suspension of the requirement would cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case the requirement shall not be suspended except by a restraining order, which may be granted for due cause shown upon not less than one day’s written notice to the Enforcement Officer, by the Board, or by a court of record upon petition made pursuant to G.S. 160D-1208(d) and section 9-1-141.
(2) The Board shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of all appeals, shall give notice to all the parties, and shall render its decision within a reasonable time. Any party may appear in person or by agent or attorney. The Board may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the decision or order appealed from, and may make such decision and order as in its opinion ought to be made in the matter, and to that end it shall have all the powers of the Enforcement Officer, but the concurring vote of four-fifths of the members of the Board shall be necessary to reverse or modify any decision or order of the Enforcement Officer. The Board shall have power also in passing upon appeals, in any case when practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships would result from carrying out the strict letter of this article, to adapt the application of the article to the necessities of the case to the end that the spirit of the article shall be observed, public safety and welfare secured, and substantial justice done.
(C) Every decision of the Board shall be subject to review by the superior court by proceedings in the nature of certiorari instituted within 15 days of the decision of the Board, but not otherwise.
(Ord. No. 23-082, § 1, passed 12-14-2023)