(a) The Board of Zoning Appeals shall have such powers and duties as are set forth in the various sections of the Zoning Code and herein. The Board shall adopt such rules and regulations as it may deem necessary to carry into effect the provisions of the Zoning Code. It shall hear and decide all questions brought before it by appeal from the refusal, granting or revocation of permits by the enforcing officer or administrative commission under the Zoning Code. It shall also hear and decide all matters referred to it or upon which it is required to pass under this Chapter. Within its powers, the Board may reverse or affirm, wholly or in part, or modify, an order, requirement, decision or determination as, in its opinion, ought to be done under the circumstances, and to that end shall have all the powers of the office or administrative commission from which the appeal is taken, and it may issue or direct the issuance of a permit.
(b) The Board shall have the power to permit exceptions to and variances from the Zoning Code, as follows:
(1) To permit the extension of an existing or proposed building or use into a more restricted district under such conditions as will safeguard the character of the more restricted district;
(2) Where there are practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships in the way of carrying out the strict letter of the Zoning Code in a specific case, to vary the application of any provision in harmony with the general purpose and intent of the Zoning code so that the public health, safety, morals and general welfare may be secured and substantial justice done;
(3) To grant variances for side, front or rear yards whenever the provisions of the Zoning Code, with respect to these requirements, affect construction on any lot which is nonconforming as to size or area as a result of the adoption of the Zoning Code. Owners of such property must show that the normal application of the standards of the Zoning Code to the relevant lot would deprive the owner of practical use of the lot or would be contrary to established front, side or rear yard setbacks for a majority of the structures within the same block in which the lot is located. Such variance shall be to the minimum degree necessary to permit the reasonable use of the lot. Such variance shall not be granted if a majority of the buildings on lots within the block in which the lot for which the variance is requested are not substandard with respect to the variance requested.
(4) To decide any question as to the interpretation of any of the provisions of the Zoning Code; and
(5) To hear any appeal taken by a property owner as a result of the denial of a building permit or a certificate of occupancy, when the property owner holds that such a denial is unreasonable or unjust or would require him or her to adhere to standards not adhered to by at least fifty percent of the property owners in the block in which the lot is located.
(Ord. 1991-8. Passed 7-16-91.)