A. 
The planning commission as established by the city council shall hear appeals and requests for variances from the requirements of this ordinance, and shall make recommendations to the city council.
B. 
The planning commission shall hear appeals when it is alleged there is an error in any requirement, decision, or determination made by the building inspector in the enforcement or administration of this ordinance, and shall make recommendations to the city council.
C. 
Planning commission recommendations shall be considered by the city council who shall decide the appeals. If satisfaction is not received, aggrieved persons may appeal the superior court as provided by law.
D. 
In considering such applications, the planning commission shall consider all technical evaluations, all relevant factors, standards specified in other sections of this ordinance, and:
1. 
The danger that materials may be swept onto other lands to the injury of other;
2. 
The danger to life and property due to flooding or erosion damage;
3. 
The susceptibility of the proposed facility and its contents to flood damage and the effect of such damage on the individual owner;
4. 
The importance of the services provided by the proposed facility to the community;
5. 
The necessity to the facility of a water-front location, where applicable;
6. 
The availability of alternative locations for the proposed use which are not subject to flooding or erosion damage;
7. 
The compatibility of the proposed use with existing and anticipated development;
8. 
The relationship of the proposed use to the comprehensive plan and flood plain management program for that area, if any;
9. 
The safety of access to the property in times of flood for ordinary and emergency vehicles;
10. 
The expected heights, velocity, duration, rate of rise, and sediment transport of the flood waters; and
11. 
The costs of providing governmental services during and after flood conditions, including maintenance and repair of public utilities and facilities such as sewer, electrical, and water systems, and streets and bridges.
E. 
Upon consideration of the factors of subsection (D) of this section and the purposes of this ordinance, the planning commission may recommend such conditions to the granting of variances as it deems necessary to further the purposes of this ordinance.
F. 
The building inspector shall maintain the records of all appeal actions and report any variances to the Federal Insurance Administration upon request.
(683 § 4.4.1, 1991; Ord. 823 § 1, 2005)
A. 
Generally, the condition under which a variance from the elevation standard may issued is for new construction and substantial improvements to be erected on a lot of one-half acre or less in size contiguous to and surrounded by lots with existing structures constructed below the base flood level, providing PMC 16.18.441(D)(1) through (11) have been fully considered. As the lot size increases the technical justification required for issuing the variance increases.
B. 
Variances may be issued for the reconstruction, rehabilitation, or restoration of structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the State Inventory of Historic Places without regard to the procedures set forth in this section.
C. 
Variances shall not be issued within a designated floodway if any increase in flood levels during the base flood discharge would result.
D. 
Variances shall only be issued upon a determination that the variance is the minimum necessary, considering the flood hazard, to afford relief.
E. 
Variances shall only be issued upon:
1. 
A showing of good and sufficient cause;
2. 
A determination that failure to grant the variance would result in exceptional hardship to the applicant;
3. 
A determination that the granting of a variance will not result in increased flood heights, additional threats to public safety, extraordinary public expense, create nuisances, cause fraud on or victimization of the public, or conflict with existing local laws or ordinances.
F. 
Variances as interpreted in the National Flood Insurance Program as based on the general zoning law principle that they pertain to a physical piece or property; they are not personal in nature and do not pertain to the structure, its inhabitants, economic or financial circumstances. They primarily address small lots in densely populated residential neighborhoods. As such, variances from the flood elevations should be quite rare.
G. 
Variances may be issued for nonresidential buildings in very limited circumstances to allow a lesser degree of floodproofing that watertight or dry-floodproofing, where it can be determined that such action will have low damage potential, complies with all other variance criteria except subsection (A) of this section, and otherwise complies with PMC 16.18.510(A) and (B) of the general standards.
H. 
Any applicant to whom a variance is granted shall be given written notice that the structure will be permitted to be built with a lowest floor elevation below the base flood elevation and the cost of flood insurance will be commensurate with the increased risk resulting from the reduced lowest floor elevation.
(Ord. 683 § 4.4.2, 1991)