(a) Appeal Board. The Board of Zoning Appeals shall hear and decide appeals and requests for variances from the requirements of this chapter.
(b) Standards for Review. In passing upon such applications, the Board of Zoning Appeals shall consider and make findings of fact on all evaluations, all relevant factors, standards specified in other sections of this chapter, and:
(1) The danger that materials may be swept onto other lands to the injury of others;
(2) The danger to life and property due to flooding or erosion damage;
(3) The susceptibility of the proposed facility and its contents to flood damage and the effect of such damage on the individual owner;
(4) The importance of the services provided by the proposed facility to the community;
(5) The availability of alternative locations for the proposed use which are not subject to flooding or erosion damage;
(6) The necessity to the facility of a waterfront location, where applicable;
(7) The compatibility of the proposed use with existing and anticipated development;
(8) The relationship of the proposed use to the Comprehensive Plan and Floodplain Management Program for that area;
(9) The safety of access to the property in times of flood for ordinary and emergency vehicles;
(10) The expected heights, velocity, duration, rate of rise, and sediment transport of the flood waters and the effects of wave action, if applicable, expected at the site; and,
(11) 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.
(c) Conditions for Variances.
(1) Variances may only be issued where due to physical characteristics of the property compliance with the requirements of this chapter creates an exceptional hardship. Increased cost or inconvenience of meeting the requirements of this chapter does not constitute an exceptional hardship.
(2) Variances shall not be issued within any designated floodway if any increase in flood levels during the Base Flood discharge would result.
(3) Variances shall only be issued upon a determination that the variance is the minimum necessary, considering the flood hazard, to afford relief.
(4) Generally, variances may be issued for new construction and substantial improvements to be erected on a lot of one-half acre or less in size contiguous to and surrounded by lots with existing structures constructed below the Base Flood level, providing items (1-11) in Section 1105.14(b) have been fully considered. As the lot size increases beyond one-half acre, the technical justification required for issuing the variance increases.
(5) Variances may be issued for the repair or rehabilitation of historic structures upon a determination that the proposed repair or rehabilitation will not preclude the structure's continued designation as a historic structure and the variance is the minimum necessary to preserve the historic character and design of the structure.
(6) 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;
C. A determination that the granting of a variance will not result in increased flood heights beyond that which is allowed in this chapter, additional threats to public safety, extraordinary public expense, nuisances, fraud on or victimization of the public as identified in Section 1105.14(b), or conflict with existing local laws or ordinances; and
D. A determination that the structure or other development is protected by methods to minimize flood damages.
(7) 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 elevation below the Base Flood elevation and the cost of flood insurance will be commensurate with the increased risk resulting from the reduced lowest floor elevation.
(8) Upon consideration of the factors of Section 1105.14(b) and the purposes of this chapter, the Board of Zoning Appeals may attach such conditions to the granting of variances as it deems necessary to further the purposes of this chapter.
(Ord. 20-99. Passed 4-12-99.)