When a party feels that there has been an error in any requirement, decision, or determination made by the Floodplain Administrator in the enforcement or administration of this Chapter, that matter may be appealed to the Planning Commission. The City may set an appeal fee to be paid by any appellant making such an appeal. The Planning Commission shall be the hearing body on such appeals. Any such appeal decision by the Planning Commission, may, in turn, be appealed to the City Council.
The Planning Commission shall hear and decide upon variances from the requirements of this Chapter. In passing upon requests for variances, the Commission shall consider all technical evaluation, all relevant factors, standards specified in other sections of this Chapter, including but not limited to the following:
(A) 
Danger that materials may be swept onto other lands to the injury of others;
(B) 
Danger of life and property due to flooding or erosion damage;
(C) 
Susceptibility of the proposed facility and its contents to flood damage and the effect of such damage on the existing individual owner and future owners of the property;
(D) 
Importance of the services provided by the proposed facility to the community;
(E) 
Necessity to the facility of a waterfront location, where applicable;
(F) 
Availability of alternative locations for the proposed use which are not subject to flooding or erosion damage;
(G) 
Compatibility of the proposed use with existing and anticipated development;
(H) 
Safety of access to the property in time of flood for ordinary and emergency vehicles;
(I) 
Expected heights, velocity, duration, rate of rise, and sediment transport of the floodwaters expected at the site; and
(J) 
Costs of providing governmental services during and after flood conditions, including maintenance and repair of public utilities and facilities such as sewer, gas, electrical, and water system, and streets and bridges.
Because of the serious impacts upon the public health, safety and welfare proposed by flooding, a variance from the requirements of this Chapter shall be granted only in the most unusual situation, and only when the following findings can be made:
(A) 
That good and sufficient cause exists for granting the variance.
(B) 
That the failure to grant the requested variance would result in exceptional “hardship” to the applicant, as that term is defined in SJBMC 12-1-100.
(C) 
That the granting of a variance will not be materially detrimental to the public welfare or materially injurious to persons or property in the vicinity and that the granting of a variance will not result in increased flood heights, additional threats to public safety, and extraordinary public expense; will not create a “public safety nuisance,” as defined in SJBMC 12-1-100; and will not cause “fraud or victimization” of the public, as defined in SJBMC 12-1-100.
(D) 
That granting the variance will not result in a conflict with existing local laws or the General Plan.
(E) 
That the granting of the variance is the “minimum necessary,” as that term is defined in SJBMC 12-1-100, to afford relief to the applicant.
(A) 
Generally, variances may be issued for new construction, substantial improvement, and other proposed new development to be erected on a lot of one-half (1/2) acre or less in size contiguous to and surrounded by lots with existing structures constructed below the base flood level, providing that the procedures of Articles 3 and 4 of this Chapter have been fully considered. As the lot size increases beyond one-half (1/2) acre, the technical justification required for issuing the variance increases.
(B) 
Variances may be issued for the repair or rehabilitation of “historic structures” (as defined in SJBMC 12-1-100) upon a determination that the proposed repair or rehabilitation will not preclude the structure’s continued designation as a historic structure and the variance is the minimum necessary to preserve the historic character and design of the structure.
(C) 
No variance shall be issued within any designated floodway if any increase in flood levels during the base flood discharge would result from granting such a variance.
Upon the granting of any variance under this article, the Planning Commission and, if on appeal, the City Council, may attach such conditions to the variance as deemed necessary to further the purposes of this Chapter.
An applicant to whom a variance is granted shall be given written notice over the signature of a community official that:
(A) 
The issuance of a variance to construct a structure below the base flood level will result in increased premium rates for flood insurance up to amounts as high as twenty-five dollars ($25.00) for one hundred dollars ($100.00) of insurance coverage; and
(B) 
Such construction below the base flood level increases risks to life and property. A copy of the notice shall be recorded by the Floodplain Administrator in the office of the San Benito County Recorder in a manner so that it appears in the chain of title of the affected parcel(s) of land.
The Floodplain Administrator will maintain a record of all variance actions and report such variances in its biennial report submitted to the Federal Insurance Administration and Federal Emergency Management Agency.
All decisions of the Planning Commission concerning the granting of variances are subject to appeal to the City Council. Such appeals must be filed within ten (10) days of the date of decision of the Commission. The City may set an appeal fee which must be paid by any party appealing a variance decision by the Commission.