DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES |
Special Magistrate for Variances meets 4th Monday of the month at 7:00 p.m.
The Board of Commissioners appoints a Special Magistrate to act and render decisions on requests for variances, special exception uses and appeals of administrative decisions from the established land development regulations.
Variances
The Special Magistrate reviews each case based on the following 6 criteria:
(1) Special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land, structure, or building involved and which are not applicable to other lands, structure or buildings in the same zoning district.
(2) The special conditions and circumstances do not result from the actions of the applicant.
(3) Granting the variance will not confer on the applicant any special privilege that is denied to other lands, buildings or structures in the same zoning district.
(4) Literal interpretation would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same zoning district under the terms of the land development regulations, would work unnecessary and undue hardship on the applicant.
(5) The variance granted is the minimum variance that will make possible the reasonable use of the land.
(6) The granting of the variance will be in harmony with the general intent and purpose of the city land development regulations, and that such variance will not be injurious to the area involved or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare.
To grant a variance, the Special Magistrate must find that the variance is not contrary to the public interest where, owing to special conditions, a literal enforcement of the provisions of the land development regulations will result in unnecessary and undue hardship.
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