There is hereby established a Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) which shall perform its duties and exercise its powers as provided in Article VI of Act 110 of 2006, as amended,[1] and in such a way that the objectives of this chapter
shall be observed, public safety secured, and substantial justice
done. The Board shall consist of six members appointed by the City
Commission. Appointments shall be as follows: two members appointed
for a period of one year; two members appointed for a period of two
years; and two members appointed for a period of three years, respectively;
thereafter, each member to hold office for a full three-year term.
In addition, the City Commission may appoint two alternate members
who may be called upon to serve in the absence of a regular member,
or for the purpose of reaching a decision on a case in which a regular
member has abstained for reasons of conflict of interest. Any vacancies
in the Board shall be filled by appointment by the City Commission
for the remainder of the unexpired term. The ZBA shall annually elect
its own Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary. The compensation of
the appointed members of the Board of Zoning Appeals may be fixed
by the City Commission.
[1]
Editor's Note: See MCLA § 125.3601 et seq.
A.
Applications. Application for variance, appeal, interpretation or changes in nonconforming uses shall be submitted to the Planning Department at least 20 days prior to the ZBA meeting at which it will be heard. Application fees shall be established by the City Commission as provided for in § 7-21.05 of this chapter.
B.
Notice. Notice of the hearing of an appeal, variance, or other matter before the ZBA shall comply with § 7-21.07 of this chapter.
C.
Meetings.
(1)
Meetings of the ZBA shall be held at the call of the Chairman,
and at such times as the ZBA may determine.
(2)
The ZBA shall not conduct business unless a majority of the
regular or alternate members of the ZBA are present.
(3)
All meetings of the ZBA shall be open to the public.
(4)
The City Clerk or their representative shall keep minutes of
the ZBA proceedings, showing the vote of each member on each question,
or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep
records of its findings, decisions, evidence presented at the hearing,
proceedings at hearings and other official actions, all of which shall
be filed as soon as they are available in the office of the City Clerk
and shall be a public record. Copies of the decisions of the Board
of Appeals shall be furnished to the City Commission and Planning
Commission.
(5)
The ZBA shall adopt rules of procedure for the operation of
the Board and the conducting of hearings.
(6)
The chairperson or, in his or her absence, the acting chairperson,
may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses.
D.
Zoning Board of Appeals decision.
(1)
Following the hearing on an issue brought before them, the ZBA
may only reverse an administrative decision or grant an applicant's
request by a majority vote of the members of the ZBA.
(2)
In making a decision on a request, the ZBA shall state the basis
for their decision, including any findings of fact and how those facts
relate to the standards used by the ZBA in making their decision.
(3)
The ZBA shall return a decision upon each case within 60 days
of the filing of a complete request application unless an extension
is agreed to by the applicant.
E.
Conditions.
(1)
The ZBA may place conditions on an affirmative decision when
such conditions:
(a)
Would ensure that public services and facilities affected by
a proposed land use or activity will be capable of accommodating increased
service and facility loads caused by the land use or activity.
(b)
Would protect the natural environment and conserve natural resources
and energy.
(c)
Would ensure compatibility with adjacent uses of land.
(d)
Would promote the use of land in a socially and economically
desirable manner.
F.
Appeal of Zoning Board of Appeals decision. Any person aggrieved
by the decision of the ZBA in granting or denying a request may appeal
the decision to Circuit Court.
G.
Resubmission. An applicant may not resubmit an application for one
year following a decision, unless a change in circumstances or new
facts relevant to the decision are presented.
The ZBA shall have the authority to:
A.
The ZBA shall have the power to authorize variations to any requirement
of this chapter which can be expressed in terms of numbers. The ZBA
may not authorize a use variance.
B.
If a variance which is granted is not utilized within one year of
its granting, the variance shall be considered null and void and an
application must be refilled if it is desired at a future date. In
cases where a variance is a condition of site plan approval or is
necessary for a site plan to meet ordinance standards, the variance
shall remain valid until the site plan expires.
[Amended 12-19-2022]
C.
If a variance is denied, the ZBA shall not reconsider the same request,
or a similar request that could have been granted during the original
consideration, within a period of one year.
D.
A variance which is legally utilized and maintained runs with the
property and any subsequent owners who legally continue the variance
under its original or amended terms.
E.
In consideration of all variances, the ZBA shall review each case
individually as to its compliance with each of the following standards
and may only approve variance requests which comply with all of the
following:
(1)
The standard for which the variance is being granted would unreasonably
prevent the owner from using property for a permitted purpose or would
render conformity unnecessarily burdensome;
(2)
The variance would do substantial justice to the applicant as
well as to other property owners in the zoning district and a lesser
relaxation of the standard would not provide substantial relief and
be more consistent with justice to others;
(3)
The problem is due to circumstances unique to the property and
not to general conditions in the area;
(4)
The problem that resulted in the need for the variance was not
created by the applicant or previous owners of the property; and
(5)
Issuance of the variance would still ensure that the spirit
of the ordinance is observed, public safety secured and substantial
justice done.
F.
Sign variances may be granted for any one of the following conditions:
(1)
The applicant has demonstrated a variance is needed due to a
practical difficulty on the site, such as varied topography, horizontal
or vertical road curvature, or presence of structures or desired trees
that limits visibility of a sign on the premises compared to similar
sites with conforming signs in the same zoning district;
(2)
A variance is warranted due to the relatively large size of
the site, frontage or building in comparison to other establishments
in the same zoning district;
(3)
A variance would significantly improve the conformity of an
existing sign; or
(4)
The variance would permit a sign with historic significance
to be retained.
G.
To grant a sign variance for one of the conditions specified above in Subsection F, all of the following standards must also be met:
(1)
The inability to conform with the regulations is due to a practical
difficulty or unique condition that includes more than mere inconvenience
or mere inability to attain a supposed higher financial return;
(2)
That the alleged practical difficulties or unique condition,
or both, are exceptional and peculiar to the property of the person
requesting the variance, and result from conditions which do not exist
generally throughout the City;
(3)
That allowing the variance will result in substantial justice
being done, considering the public benefits intended to be secured
by the regulations, the individual practical difficulties that will
be suffered by a failure to grant a variance, and the rights of others
whose property would be affected by the allowance of the variance,
and will not be contrary to the public purpose and general intent
of these regulations;
(4)
The variance granted is the minimum necessary to allow the applicant
to enjoy the same rights as other establishments in the same zoning
district, have a reasonable outlet for free speech and meet the intent
of the sign regulations; and
(5)
The variance will not adversely affect the health, safety and
welfare of the public.
[Amended 5-17-2012]
The Planning Department and the Planning Commission are responsible
for interpreting this chapter as part of their responsibility as the
primary administrators of the chapter. They may request the ZBA to
interpret provisions of this chapter as outlined below. Each such
interpretation shall establish the precedent for future treatment
of the issue being addressed. To achieve the objective of consistent
enforcement of this chapter, whenever an interpretation question arises
which has been addressed previously by the ZBA, the earlier interpretation
shall apply without requiring further action by the ZBA. The Planning
Department shall keep a concise record of all interpretations made
by the ZBA to facilitate such reference.
A.
The ZBA may classify any activity which is not specifically mentioned in Articles III through XI for any zoning district as a use by right or special use, provided that said classification shall be consistent with the classification of similar uses and with the purpose and intent of each zoning district. In carrying out this interpretation, the ZBA may not interpret a specific use as being included in a broader class of uses if that specific use is listed separately in other zoning districts.
B.
The ZBA may determine the off-street parking and loading space requirements of any use for which these requirements are not determinable by the Planning Commission as provided for in Article XVI.
C.
The ZBA may interpret any portion of this chapter when the Planning
Department is unable to clearly determine its intent or effect.
These appellate procedures are instituted to hear and decide
appeals from and review any order, requirement, decision, or determination
made by an administrative official or body charged with the enforcement
of the Zoning Ordinance.
A.
An appeal shall be filed with the officer from whom the appeal is
taken and with the ZBA, through the zoning administration specifying
the grounds for the appeal.
B.
Applications for appeals of administrative actions shall be submitted
to the Planning Department within 30 days of the date of such actions.
C.
The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit
to the ZBA all papers constituting the record upon which the appeal
is taken.
D.
An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of action appealed
from, unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to
the ZBA after the notice of appeal shall have been filed with them,
that by reason of facts stated in the certificate, a stay would in
their opinion cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case,
proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order,
which may be granted by the ZBA, or by the Circuit Court, on application,
on notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken, and on due
cause shown.
E.
The ZBA may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the
order, requirements or determination appealed from and in making an
order, requirement, decision or determination, shall have the powers
of the officer or body from whom the appeal is taken.
