For more information about the specific responsibilities and duties of the Zoning Board of Appeals please refer to the City of Sandwich Municipal Code Section 98-257.
The Zoning Board of Appeals meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. as needed.
Sec. 98-257. Zoning board of appeals.
(a) Jurisdiction and authority. The zoning board of appeals is hereby vested with the following jurisdiction and authority:
(1) To hear and decide an appeal from an administrative order, requirement, decision, or determination made by the zoning officer under this chapter.
(2) To hear or decide all other matters referred to it upon which it is required to decide under this chapter.
(3) The concurring vote of four members of the board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision, or determination of the zoning officer, or to decide in favor of the applicant any matter upon which it is required to pass under this chapter.
(b) Meetings and rules.
(1) The zoning board of appeals of the city, as heretofore created and established under the provisions of this chapter, as amended, is hereby reconstituted and re-established as the zoning board of appeals under the provisions of this comprehensive amendment. The board shall consist of seven members appointed by the mayor with the consent of the city council. Members of the board shall serve for five-year terms. One of the members of said board shall be designated by the mayor, with the consent of the city council, as chairperson of said board, and shall hold said office as chairperson until a successor is appointed. A second member shall, in like manner, be designated as vice-chairperson to conduct business in the absence of the chairperson.
(2) Meeting. All meetings of the zoning board of appeals shall be held upon a quorum being present at the call of the chairperson or at such other times as the board may determine. All testimony of witnesses at any hearing provided for in this chapter shall be given under oath. The chairperson, or in the chairman's absence the vice-chairperson, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the board shall be open to the public. The secretary of the board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon every question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating the fact, and shall also keep records of its examinations and other official actions. Findings of fact shall be included in the minutes of each case of a requested variation. Every rule or regulation, every amendment or determination of the board shall immediately be filed in the office of the board and shall be public record. The board may adopt its own rules of procedure not in conflict with the statute in such case made and provided for in this chapter.
(c) Appeals.
(1) Authority. The zoning board of appeals shall hear and decide appeals from an administrative order, requirement, or determination under this chapter, made by the zoning officer.
(2) Initiation. An appeal may be taken to the zoning board of appeals by any person, firm or corporation, or by any office, department, board, bureau, or commission, aggrieved by an administrative order, requirement, decision, or determination under this chapter.
(3) Processing.
a. The appeal shall be taken within 45 days of the action complained of by filing with the officer from whom the appeal is taken and with the zoning board of appeals, a notice of appeal, specifying the grounds thereof. Such appeal shall be taken upon forms provided by the zoning board of appeals. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall transmit to the board all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed was taken.
b. An appeal stays all proceedings in the furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the zoning officer certifies to the zoning board of appeals, after notice of appeal has been filed with the zoning officer that by reason of facts stated in the certificate a stay would, in the zoning officer's opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. In this event, the proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order which may be granted by the zoning board of appeals or by a court of record on application and on notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken, and on due causes shown.
c. The zoning board of appeals shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal and give due notice thereof to the parties and decide the appeal within a reasonable time. Upon the hearing, any party may appear in person or by agent or attorney. The zoning board of appeals may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, or decision, or determination as in its opinion ought to be made in the premises and to that end has all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken.
(d) Variations.
(1) Authority. The zoning board of appeals shall decide variations of the provisions of this chapter in harmony with its general purpose and intent, and shall vary them only in the specific instances hereinafter set forth where the zoning board of appeals shall have made a finding of fact based upon the standards hereinafter prescribed that there are practical difficulties or particular hardship in the way of carrying out the strict letter of the regulations of this chapter.
(2) Initiation. An application for a variation may be made by any person, firm, or corporation, or by an office, department, board, bureau, or commission requesting or intending to request application for a building permit, sign permit, or occupancy permit.
(3) Processing.
a. An application for a variation shall be filed with the city clerk. The city clerk shall forward such application to the zoning board of appeals for processing in accordance with applicable statutes of the state and the provisions of this chapter.
b. All variations shall be decided by the zoning board of appeals after a public hearing before the zoning board of appeals, of which there shall be a notice of time and place of the hearing published at least once, not more than 30 days nor less than 15 days before the hearing, in one or more newspapers with a general circulation within the city; and a written notice by the petitioner is made by certified return receipt mail at least 15 days before the hearing on the owners of the properties located within 250 feet of the location for which the variation is requested, except authorized variations as defined in subsection (d)(5) of this section.
(4) Standards.
a. The zoning board of appeals shall not grant variations of the provisions of this chapter, unless it shall have made findings based upon the evidence presented to it in the following cases:
1. That the property in question cannot yield a reasonable return if permitted to be used only under the conditions allowed by the regulations governing the district in which it is located;
2. That the plight of the owner is due to unique circumstances; and
3. That the variation, if granted, will not alter the essential character of the locality.
b. A variation shall be granted only if the evidence, in the judgment of the zoning board of appeals, sustains the conditions enumerated above.
c. For the purpose of supplementing the above standards, the zoning board of appeals, in making this determination whenever there are practical difficulties or particular hardships, shall also take into consideration the extent to which the following facts, favorable to the applicant, have been established by the evidence:
1. That the particular physical surroundings, shape, or topographical conditions of the specific property involved will bring a particular hardship upon the owner as distinguished from a mere inconvenience if the strict letter of the regulations were to be carried out.
2. That the conditions upon which the application for variation is based would not be applicable generally to other property within the same zoned classification.
3. That the purpose of the variation is not based exclusively upon a desire to make more money out of the property.
4. That the granting of the variation will not be detrimental to the public welfare or unduly injurious to other property or improvements in the neighborhood in which the property is located.
5. That the proposed variation will not impair an adequate supply of light and air to adjacent property, or substantially increase the danger of fire, or otherwise endanger the public safety or substantially diminish or impair property values within the neighborhood.
d. The zoning board of appeals may require conditions and/or restrictions upon the premises benefited by a variation as may be necessary to comply with the standards set forth in this section to reduce or minimize the effect of such variation upon other property in the neighborhood, and to implement the general purpose and intent of this chapter.
(5) Authorized variation. Variations from the regulations of this chapter shall be granted by the zoning board of appeals only in accordance with the standards set out in this section, without public hearing, but with proper public notice of meeting, and may be granted only on the following instances, and in no others:
a. To permit up to 20 percent reduction in the front, side, or rear yard required by this chapter;
b. To permit the use of a lot or lots for a use otherwise prohibited solely because of insufficient area or width of the lot or lots but in no event shall the respective area and width of the lot be less than 90 percent of the required area and width. The percentage set forth in this subsection is not to be reduced by any other percentage for minimum lot width and area set forth in this chapter;
c. To permit the same off-street parking facility to qualify as required facilities for two or more uses, provided the substantial use of such facility by each use does not take place at approximately the same hours of the same days of the week;
d. To reduce the applicable off-street parking or loading facilities required by not more than one parking space or loading space, or 20 percent of the applicable regulations, whichever number is greater;
e. To increase, by not more than ten percent, the maximum gross floor area of any use so limited by the applicable regulations;
f. To extend the period of time a nonconforming use may continue or remain; or
g. To exceed any of the authorized variations allowed under this section, when a lot of record or a zoning lot, vacant or legally used on May 1, 1990, is, by reason of the exercise of the right of eminent domain by any authorized governmental body or by reason of conveyance under threat of an eminent domain proceeding, reduced in size so that the remainder of said lot does not conform with one or more of the regulations of the district in which said lot of record or zoning lot or structure is located.
(Ord. No. 2003-07, § 3, 4-14-2003)