A. Appeal Board:
1. The board of appeals, as established by the city, shall hear and decide appeals and request for variances from the requirements of this chapter;
2. The board of appeals shall hear and decide appeals when it is alleged there is an error in any requirement, decision, or determination made by the city in the enforcement or administration of this chapter;
3. Those aggrieved by the decision of the board of appeals, or any taxpayer, may appeal such decisions to any court of competent jurisdiction;
4. In passing upon such applications, the board of appeals shall consider all technical evaluations, all relevant factors, standards specified in other sections of this chapter, and:
a. The danger that materials may be swept onto other lands to the injury of others;
b. The danger to life and property due to flooding or erosion damage;
c. The susceptibility of the proposed facility and its contents to flood damage and the effect of such damage on the individual owners;
d. The importance of the service provided by the proposed facility to the community;
e. The necessity to the facility of a waterfront location, where applicable;
f. The availability of alternative locations for the proposed use which are not subject to flooding or erosion damage;
g. The compatibility of the proposed use with the existing and anticipated development;
h. The relationship of the proposed use to the comprehensive plan and floodplain management program for that area;
i. The safety of access to the property in times of flood for ordinary and emergency vehicles;
j. The expected heights, velocity, duration, rate of rise, and sediment transport of the floodwaters and the effects of wave action, if applicable, expected at the site; and
k. The costs of providing governmental services during and after flood conditions including maintenance and repair of public utilities and facilities such as sewer, gas, electrical, and water systems, and streets and bridges;
5. Upon consideration of the factors of this section and the purposes of this chapter, the board of appeals may attach such conditions to the granting of variances as it deems necessary to further the purposes of this chapter;
6. The city shall maintain the records of all appeal actions, including technical information, and report any variances to the federal emergency management agency (FEMA).
B. Conditions For Variances:
1. Generally, variances may be issued for new construction and substantial improvements to be erected on a lot of one-half (1/2) acre or less in size contiguous to and surrounded by lots with existing structures constructed below the base level, providing subsections A4a through A4k of this section have been fully considered. As the lot size increases beyond the one-half (1/2) acre, the technical justifications required for issuing the variance increases;
2. Variances may be issued for the reconstruction, rehabilitation or restoration of structures which qualify for the National Register of Historic Places, the State Inventory of Historic Places, or the city historic registry without regard to the procedures set forth in the remainder of this section;
3. Variances shall not be issued within any designated floodway if any increase in flood levels during the base flood discharge would result;
4. Variances shall only be issued upon a determination that the variance is the minimum necessary, considering the flood hazard, to afford relief;
5. Variances shall only be issued upon:
a. A showing of good and sufficient cause;
b. A determination that failure to grant the variance would result in exceptional hardship to the applicant; and
c. A determination that the granting of a variance will not result in increased flood heights, additional threats to public safety, extraordinary public expense, create nuisances, cause fraud on or victimization of the public, or conflict with existing local laws or ordinances;
6. Any applicant to whom a variance is granted shall be given written notice that the structure will be permitted to be built with a lowest floor below the base flood elevation and that the cost of flood insurance will be commensurate with the increased risk from the reduced lowest floor elevation. (Ord. 09-26 § 2)