(A) (1) The Board of Appeals shall hear and decide appeals from and review any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by the Building Inspector.
(2) The Board of Appeals may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify or amend the order, requirement, decision, or determination appealed from to the extent and in the manner that the Board of Appeals may decide to be fitting and proper in the premises, and to that end, the Board of Appeals shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken.
(B) The Board of Appeals shall also hold public hearings on, and when in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the Zoning Code, may authorize the following exceptions to the terms thereof:
(1) The extension of a district where the boundary line of a district divides a lot in a single ownership at the time of the effective date of the Zoning Code;
(2) Interpretation of the provisions of the Zoning Code in such a way as to carry out the intent and purpose of the plan, as shown upon the Zoning Map fixing the several districts referred to in the Zoning Code and made a part thereof by reference, where the street layout actually on the ground varies from the street layout as shown on the Zoning Map aforesaid;
(3) The erection and use of a building or the use of premises in any location for a railroad or public service corporation for public utility purposes which the Board of Appeals determines reasonably necessary for the public convenience or welfare;
(4) The reconstruction of a nonconforming building which has been damaged by explosion, fire, act of God, or public enemy to the extent of more than 60% of its fair market value, where the Board of Appeals finds some compelling necessity requiring a continuance of the nonconforming use and the primary purpose of continuing the nonconforming use is not to continue a monopoly;
(5) The waiving or reduction of the parking and loading requirements in any of the districts whenever the character or use of the building is such as to make unnecessary the full provision of parking or loading facilities, or where such regulations would impose an unreasonable hardship upon the use of the lot, as contrasted with merely granting an advantage or a convenience; and
(6) Extension of the period within which a nonconforming commercial or industrial use is to be removed from a dwelling district, when the owner or owners can furnish substantial proof that the building was so extensively remodeled, reconstructed, or structurally altered after the original construction that it practically resulted in a new building, but such extension of the period shall not exceed 40 years from the date of such remodeling, reconstruction, or structural alteration.
(C) (1) Where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or shape of a specific piece of property, or by reason of exceptional topographical conditions or other extraordinary or exceptional situation or condition of a specific piece of property, the strict application of any provision of the Zoning Code would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties and clearly demonstrable hardship upon the owner of the property, amounting to practical confiscation thereof, and not a mere inconvenience to such owner, the Board of Appeals may authorize, after public hearing, a variation in the strict application of the terms of the Zoning Code. In its consideration of the standards of practical difficulties or particular hardship, the Board of Appeals shall require evidence that:
(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 zone;
(b) The plight of the owner is due to unique circumstances, which circumstances do not apply to other adjoining or nearby property; and
(c) The variation, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality. A variation shall be permitted only if the evidence, in the judgment of the Board of Appeals, sustains each of the three conditions enumerated.
(2) Notice of the time and place of the public hearings before the Board of Appeals shall be given by publishing same at least once, not more than 30 nor less than 15 days before the hearing, in a newspaper published in the county.
(3) In consideration of all appeals and all proposed variations to the Zoning Code, the Board of Appeals shall, before making any variation from the Zoning Code in a specific case, first determine that the proposed variation will not impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property or unreasonably increase the congestion in public streets or increase the danger of fire or endanger the public safety, or unreasonably diminish or impair established property values within the surrounding area, or in any other respect impair the public health, safety, comfort, morals, or welfare of the inhabitants of the village. The concurring vote of four members of the Board of Appeals shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of the Building Inspector or to decide in favor of the applicant any matter upon which it is authorized by the Zoning Code or this subchapter to render a decision.
(Prior Code, § 2-2-4)