§ IX. Zoning Board of Adjustments.

1.

Creation and appointment: A Zoning Board of Adjustments is hereby created and established. The words "Board" or "Zoning Board" when used in this article shall be construed to mean the Zoning Board of Adjustments. The Plaquemines Parish Planning Development Board as it is presently constituted or will be constituted from time to time will hereafter assume the duties and responsibilities of the Zoning Board of Adjustments.

2.

Rules of procedure: The Board shall adopt rules of procedure not in conflict with any State Act or Parish Ordinance. Meetings of the Board shall be held at the call of the chairman and at such other times as the Board may determine. Such chairman, or in his absence the acting chairman, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public. The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or, if absent or failing to vote, indicating that fact and shall keep records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be filed immediately in the office of the Board and shall be public record. All testimony, objections thereto, and rulings thereon shall be taken down by a reporter employed by the Board for the purpose. In exercising its powers and duties, the Board may reverse or affirm wholly, or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision, or determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the powers of the Zoning Administrator. A vote by a simple majority of the membership of the Board shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of the Zoning Administrator, or to decide in favor of the application on any matter upon which it is required to pass under any such ordinance, or to effect any variance of such ordinance.

Editor's note— Subsection 2 of § IX appears as amended by Ord. No. 88-78, § 1, adopted March 10, 1988 and further amended by Ord. No. 04-35, § 1, adopted Feb. 12, 2004.

3.

Appeals: Appeals to the Board may be taken by a party aggrieved, or by any officer, department commission, board, bureau, or other agency of the Council affected by a decision of the Zoning Administrator. Such appeal shall be taken within a reasonable time not to exceed thirty (30) days by filing with the Zoning Administrator and with the Board a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof The Zoning Administrator shall forthwith transmit to the Board the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken. An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from unless the Zoning Administrator certifies to the Board of [Zoning) Adjustments after the notice of appeal shall have been filed with him that, by reason of facts stated in the certificate, a stay would, in his opinion, cause imminent peril of life or property. In such case, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order which may be granted by the Board of [Zoning] Adjustments or by a court of record on application or notice to the Zoning Administrator and on due cause shown. The Board of [Zoning] Adjustments shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal, give public notice thereof, and decide the appeal within a reasonable time. At the hearing any party may appear in person or by agent or by attorney.

Editor's note— Subsection 3 of § IX appears as amended by § 11 of Ord, No. 145, adopted March 10, 1976, and by § I of Ord. No. 89-134, adopted Aug. 10, 1989.

4.

Powers and duties: The Board of Zoning Adjustments shall have full power to hold public hearings whenever such hearings are required by this article or would facilitate its administration; to instruct the enforcement officer as to his duties; to make reports of its meetings; and to make recommendations on permits, amendments, variances, nonconforming buildings and uses, as well as on other zoning matters, to the Plaquemines Parish Council as required hereunder and it shall be its duty:

Editor's note— The opening part of this subsection 4 appears as amended by § 1 of Ord. No. 89-134, adopted Aug. 10, 1989.

A.

To hear and decide appeals involving the interpretation of any provision of this Ordinance or when it is alleged there is error in any order, requirement, decision, or determination made by the Zoning Administrator in enforcement of this Ordinance.

B.

In hearing and deciding appeals the Board shall have the power to grant exceptions in the following instances:

(1)

Where a district boundary line divides a lot in single or joint ownership of record at the time such line is adopted, permit the less restricted portion of such lot to extend not more than thirty (30) feet into the more restricted portion, provided the lot has frontage on a street in the less restricted district.

(2)

Interpret the provisions of this Ordinance in such a way as to carry out the intent and purpose of this plan, as shown upon the Zoning District Map, where the district boundaries are uncertain, or where the street layout actually on the ground varies from the street layout as shown on the district map.

(3)

Grant a transitional use between a commercial or industrial district and a residential district where the side of a lot in a residential district abuts upon a lot located in a commercial or industrial district not to exceed one hundred (100) feet in width from the less restricted zoning district line.

(4)

No exception shall be granted by the Board of [Zoning] Adjustments unless it finds that the use for which such exceptions is sought will not, in the circumstances of the particular case and under any conditions that the Board considers to be necessary or desirable, be injurious to the neighborhood or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare.

C.

To vary or adopt the strict application of the yard requirements or height restrictions, or parking and sign regulations in the case of exceptionally irregular, narrow, shallow, or steep lots, or other exceptional physical conditions, whereby strict application would deprive the owner of the reasonable use of the land in accordance with the use regulations of this Ordinance; to waive or reduce the parking requirements wherever the use of a building or land is so extraordinary as to make unnecessary the full provision of parking facilities, or wherever it can be shown that provision of required off-street parking space within three hundred (300) feet of the main building is not feasible and would impose an unreasonable hardship as contrasted with merely granting an advantage or convenience; to approve an application for a business sign or advertising structure which may not conform with the provisions of the district in which it is to be located where the location, size, or addition would be inconsistent with the character of the area or neighborhood in which such sign or structure is to be located. In granting any variance, the Board of [Zoning] Adjustments shall prescribe any conditions that it deems necessary or desirable. No variance shall be granted by the Board of [Zoning] Adjustments unless it finds:

(1)

That there are special circumstances or conditions, fully described in the findings, applying to the land or building for which the variance is sought, which circumstances or conditions are peculiar to such land or buildings and do not apply generally to land or buildings in the neighborhood, and that said circumstances or conditions are such that the strict application of the provisions of this Ordinance would deprive the applicant of the reasonable use of such land or building.

(2)

That, for reasons fully set forth in the findings, the granting of the variance is necessary for the reasonable use of the land or building and that the variance as granted by the Board is the minimum variance that will accomplish this purpose.

(3)

That the granting of the variance will be in harmony with the general purpose and intent of this Ordinance and will not be injurious to the neighborhood or otherwise detrimental to the public welfare.

D.

Lapse of special exception or variance. After the Board of [Zoning] Adjustments has approved a special exception or granted a variance, the special exception or variance so approved or granted shall lapse after the expiration of one year if no substantial construction or change of use has taken place in accordance with the plans for which such special exception or variance was granted, or if the Board does not specify some longer period than one year for good cause shown, and the provisions of these regulations shall thereafter govern.

E.

Amendment of Special Exception or Variance. The procedure for amendment of a special exception or variance already approved, or a request for a change of conditions attached to an approval, shall be the same as for a new application except that where the Zoning Administrator determines the change to be minor relative to the original approval he may transmit the same to the Board with the original record without requiring that a new application be filed.

F.

Variance Fees. The following fees shall be provided on submittal of all variance appeals:

(1)

Administrative Fee - A non-refundable one-hundred-dollar ($100.00) administrative fee per lot; however, the maximum total fee for lots located in a conditionally approved subdivision shall not exceed six-hundred dollars ($600.00).

(2)

Advertising Fee - A non-refundable three-hundred-dollar ($300.00) advertising fee.

(3)

Recordation Fee - A one-hundred-dollar ($100.00) recordation fee, to be refunded if the variance appeal is not approved and duly recorded.

Editor's note

Section IX.4.F appears as amended by § 1 of Ord. No. 14-37, adopted Feb. 27, 2014