09-23-2004 Regular Meeting and Public Hearing of the La Porte Zoning Board of Adjustment

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• Zoning Board of Adjustment November 23, 2004 #V 04-010 Page 2 of 3 • Ana sis: Section 106-192(b)(1), in the Code of Ordinances, defines a variance as a deviation from the literal provisions of the chapter which is granted by the Board when strict conformity to the chapter would cause an unnecessary hardship because of the circumstances unique to the property on which the variance is granted. Except as otherwise prohibited the board is empowered to authorize a variance from a requirement when the board finds that all of the following conditions have been met. • That the.granting of the variance will not be contrary to the best public interest. • That literal enforcement of the chapter will result in unnecessary hardship because of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, shape, topography or other extraordinary or exceptional physical situation unique to the speck piece of property in question. "Unnecessary hardship" shall mean physical hardship relating to the property itself as distinguished from a hardship relating to convenience, financial considerations or caprice, and the hardship must not result from the applicant or property owner's own actions; and • That by granting the variance, the spirit of the chapter will be observed. The Boazd is chazged with deterniining if the applicant's vaziance request to Section 106- 741(e)(1) is reasonable and whether all of the above conditions were met. To determine if granting the applicant's request would be contrary to the general public, Staff considered the fact that the home and garage are both pre-existing, nonconforming structures. Whether the Board does or does not grant the applicant's request will not eliminate the nonconformities that exist on the developed site. When looking at the next test, Staff deternuned that granting the variance would still observe the spirit of the law. The spirit of the ordinance is assumed to be public safety. If one considers the spirit of the law is to ensure uniformity and property maintenance throughout the City, Stars notes that there aze already some property irregularities in the area. Therefore, it does not appear that the applicant's request will create a negative impact to the property or the surrounding area. While safety should be paramount public interest, preserving historical character should also be considered. In order to conform to the current regulations, the garage door would need to be relocated to adjacent southwest side, resulting in the balance of the reaz yazd being paved over as a driveway and loss of green space as well.