(a) Authority. The Planning Commission of Wheeling, West Virginia (hereinafter “Planning Commission”) is vested with the authority to review, approve, conditionally approve and disapprove applications for the subdivision of land, including sketch, preliminary, and final plats. The Planning Commission may grant variances from these regulations pursuant to the provisions below.
(b) Approval of Plat Required. Before any real property located within the City or lands that abut thereon, is subdivided and offered for sale, and before a plat for such property is recorded in the Office of the County Clerk of Ohio County, the subdivision plat shall be approved by the Planning Commission, and such approval entered on the plat by the Chairman, after first having been submitted to the Commission in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.
(c) Amendments. For the purpose of protecting the public health, safety, and general welfare, the Planning Commission may from time to time propose amendments to this Chapter which shall then be approved or disapproved by the City Council at a public meeting following public notice.
(d) Hardship. Where the Planning Commission finds that extraordinary hardship may result from strict compliance with this Chapter because of peculiar conditions pertaining to the land in question, it may vary the requirements so that substantial justice may be done and the public interest secured; provided that such variation will not have the effect of nullifying the intent and purpose of the Comprehensive Plan or this Chapter. In granting variances and modifications, the Planning Commission may require such conditions as will, in its judgment, secure substantially the objectives of the standards or requirements so varied or modified.
(e) Appeal. If the subdivider disagrees with the action taken on his proposal by the Planning Commission, he may appeal such action to Council within thirty days of the time such action was taken. The applicant shall file a Notice of Appeal with the Council, with a copy to the Planning Commission, no later than ten days after the date on which the Planning Commission notifies the applicant that it has disapproved the sketch, preliminary, or final subdivision plat. The Notice of Appeal shall set forth in clear and concise fashion the basis for the appeal. The appeal shall be considered at the next regularly scheduled public meeting of the Council, at which time it may affirm or reverse the decision of the Planning Commission. The Council may reverse the decision of the Planning Commission only by a unanimous vote of the Council members present at the meeting. If the Council reverses the Planning Commission, the applicant may proceed to submit a preliminary or final plat as appropriate under the conditions for approval agreed to by the Council.
(f) No proposed changes, erasures, modifications, or revisions shall be made to any final plat of a subdivision after approval has been granted by the Planning Commission and endorsed in writing on the plat, unless said proposed changes, erasures, modifications, or revisions are submitted to the Planning Commission for approval.