The Planning Department serves as the liaison for the Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA). The ZBA consists of five regular members and two alternate members appointed by the City Council. Members serve for a period of two years and until their successors are duly appointed and qualified.
The ZBA has the authority to exercise the following powers and perform the following duties:
- Hear and decide an appeal that alleges error in an order, requirement, decision, or determination made by an administrative official in the enforcement of the City’s Zoning Ordinance;
- Authorize the expansion or continuation of a nonconforming structure; and
- Authorize in specific cases a variance from Zoning Ordinance if the variance is not contrary to the public interest and, due to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the ordinance would result in unnecessary hardship, and so that the spirit of this Ordinance is observed and substantial justice is done.
- That literal enforcement of the controls will create an unnecessary hardship or practical difficulty in the development of the affected property;
- That the situation causing the hardship or difficulty is neither self-imposed nor generally affecting all or most properties in the same zoning district;
- That the relief sought will not injure the permitted use of adjacent conforming property; and
- That the granting of a variance will be in harmony with the spirit and purpose of these regulations.