Chapter 6 Board of Adjustment
Intent
A Board of Adjustment is hereby created in accordance with Nebraska Revised Statutes 19-907-912. The Board shall be an appeals body and shall be given de novo standard of review to decide any decision brought before it.
Membership
The Board shall consist of five (5) members, plus one (1) additional member designated as an alternate who shall serve only when one of the regular members is unable to do so for any reason. Members of the Board shall be appointed by the Mayor with approval of the City Council to a term of three (3) years and may be removed for cause by the appointing authority upon written charges and after a public hearing. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term of any member whose term becomes vacant. One member of the Board shall be appointed from the Planning Commission, and the loss of membership on the Commission by such member shall also result in the immediate loss of membership on the Board of Adjustment and the appointment of another Planning Commissioner to the Board.
Rules and Meetings
- The Board of Adjustment shall adopt rules in accordance with these regulations and the laws of the State of Nebraska pursuant to Sections 19-901 to 19-914. Meetings of the Board shall be held at the call of the chair and at such other times as the Board may determine. All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public. The Board shall have the power to administer oaths and compel witnesses to attend meetings. They shall keep minutes of their proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or, if absent or failing to vote, indicating that fact, and shall keep records of their examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be immediately filed with the City Clerk and shall be public record.
- An appeal to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by any persons aggrieved or by any officer, department, board, or bureau of the City by any decision, other than the approval or denial of a conditional use permit application, of an administrative officer, and/or City Board, depending upon the nature of agreement. Such appeal shall be taken within a reasonable time, as provided by the rules of the Board of Adjustment, by filing with the Board a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof. The officer or agency from whom the appeal is taken shall transmit to the Board of Adjustment all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken.
- The Board of Adjustment shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal, give public notice thereof as well as due notice to the parties in interest, and decide the same within a reasonable time. Any party may appear at the hearing in person, by agent, or by attorney.
Powers
The Board of Adjustment shall, subject to such appropriate conditions and safeguards as may be established by the City Council, have only the following powers:
- Administrative Review: To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged by the appellant that there is an error in any order, requirement, decision, or refusal made by an administrative official or agency based on or made in the enforcement of any zoning regulation or any regulation relating to the location or soundness of structures
- Interpretation of Zoning Map: To hear and decide, in accordance with the provisions of any regulation, requests for interpretation of any map, or for decisions upon other special questions upon which the Board is authorized to by such regulations to pass, and
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Variance Review: Where, because of undue hardship created by shape, narrowness, or shallowness
not created by the land owner themselves, of a specific piece of property at the time of the
adoption of the zoning regulations, or because of an exceptional topographic conditions or other
extraordinary and exceptional situation or condition of such piece of property, the strict application
of any enacted regulation under this act would result in a peculiar and exceptional practical
difficulties, the Board shall authorize, upon an appeal relating to the property, a variance from such
strict application so as to relieve such difficulties or hardships, if such relief may be granted without
substantially impairing the intent and purpose of any zoning regulations, but no such variance shall
be authorized unless the Board of Adjustment finds that:
- The strict application of the resolution would produce undue hardship
- Such hardship is not shared generally by other properties in the same zoning district and the same vicinity
- The authorization of such variance will not be of substantial detriment to adjacent property and the character of the district will not be changed by the granting of the variance, and
- The granting of such variance is based upon reasons of demonstrable and exceptional hardship as distinguished from variations for purposes of convenience, profit, or caprice.
- In exercising the above-mentioned powers, the Board may, in conformity with the provision of this act, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision, or determination appealed from and may make such order, requirement, decision, or determination as shall be proper, and to that end shall have the power of the officer of agency from whom the appeal is taken. The concurring vote of four members of the Board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision, or determination of any such administrative official, or to decide in favor of the applicant on any matter upon which it is required to pass under any such regulations or to effect any variation in such regulations.
Board Decisions
Any person or persons, jointly or severally, aggrieved by any decision of the Board of Adjustment or any officer, departments, board or bureau of the City may seek review of such decision by the District Court for the County in the manner provided by the laws of the State and particularly by Section 19-912 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes, and any such amendments thereto.