The Board of Zoning Appeals may hear and decide,
in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, requests for zoning
variances.
It shall be the general rule of the Board that
reasonable efforts shall be made to contact and notify interested
parties who, in the opinion of the Board, may be affected by any matter
brought before the Board. In all cases all owners of record of adjoining
property, including those separated by a public way from the premises
in question, shall be notified. The notification required to meet
this provision shall be accomplished by certified mail addressed to
the respective owner at the address given in the latest tax assessment.
The Board shall not grant a variance unless
it finds that:
A. The property owner acquired the property in good faith
and that, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, size or
shape or exceptional topographical conditions or other extraordinary
conditions of the property or of the use or development of property
immediately adjacent to it, the strict application of the terms of
this chapter would effectively prohibit or unreasonably restrict the
use of the property;
B. The strict application of the ordinance would produce
undue hardship;
C. The hardship is not generally shared by other properties
in the same zoning district and the same vicinity;
D. The Board is satisfied, upon the evidence heard by
it, that the granting of such variance will alleviate a demonstrable
hardship approaching confiscation, as distinguished from a special
privilege or convenience sought by the applicant;
E. The authorization of such variance will not be of
substantial detriment to adjacent property and that the character
of the district will not be changed by the granting of the variance;
F. The condition or situation of the property concerned
or the intended use of the property is not of so general or recurring
a nature as to make reasonably practicable the formulation of a general
regulation to be adopted as an amendment to this chapter;
G. The variance shall be in harmony with the intended
spirit and purpose of this chapter;
H. Financial concerns shall not be the sole consideration
as a basis for granting a variance; and
I. Granting the variance requested will not confer on
the applicant any special privilege that is denied by this chapter
to other lands, structures or buildings in the same district.
No permitted or nonconforming use of neighboring
lands, structures or buildings in the same district or in other districts
shall be considered grounds for the issuance of a variance.
Under no circumstances shall the Board of Zoning
Appeals grant a variance to allow a use not permitted under the terms
of this chapter in the district involved or any use expressly or by
implication prohibited by the terms of this chapter in said district.
The Board may impose such conditions and restrictions upon the premises benefited by a variance as may be necessary to comply with the provisions set out in §
171-92 to reduce or minimize the injurious effect of such variance upon surrounding property and to better carry out the general intent of this chapter. The Board may establish expiration dates as a condition or as a part of the variance. The Board may require a guarantee or bond to insure that the conditions imposed are being and will continue to be complied with.
Any person including any agency of the town
government aggrieved by a decision of the Board on a variance may
appeal any decision of the Board to the Circuit Court of the county
as provided for in § 15.1-497, Code of Virginia 1950 (as
amended).