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Variance Process

A Variance request filed with the city will be scheduled for Board of Adjustment review once all documents and the filing fee are received. The Board of Adjustment will review the application, receive information from City staff, and hear testimony. (Please note that the Board of Adjustment is the adjudicating authority, and no one is allowed to contact members of the Board of Adjustment to discuss a Variance request, not an appellant or neighboring property owner since the Board is a quasi-judicial body.) Questions or filings intended for the Board should be directed to the City Clerk. All communications must take place in the open meeting during the public hearing. The Board can require sworn testimony and can issue a "finding of fact" that is somewhat similar to a court opinion.

A Variance is not a zoning change but rather a project-specific change in the requirements, usually in bulk regulations, allowed on a specific property. Variances do not involve establishing new codes, regulations, or policies. Instead, a Variance allows a deviation from certain provisions of the zoning ordinance and its standards due to specific circumstances. If a Variance is approved, it may require that the applicant adheres to certain “conditions of approval”. Alternatively, the Board may deny the Variance if a project does not meet the standard of the burden required to find that there is a hardship on the property owner, a necessary element to justify a Variance or if the Variance would render the property incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood.

If you have any questions about the process, please contact the City Clerk at 641-227-3120.

Notifications

Notice of a public hearing is provided to the owner of the property via mail or email 
and to the public through a publication in a local newspaper. Properties within two hundred (200) feet will receive a mailing from the city. 

 

Findings of Fact

The following questions must be answered and submitted by the applicant as part of a submittal for a variance. A variance cannot be granted unless all findings of fact can be answered favorably for the request.

 

  1. Can the land in question still yield a reasonable return if the variance was not granted? This asks whether the property owner could establish any beneficial use on their property without a variance.
  2. Do special conditions and circumstances exist which are peculiar to the land, structure, or building involved? Special conditions or platting features peculiar to the lot itself must be precluding the applicant from complying with the zoning code. This may include physical features such as steep slopes or floodplains. These conditions and circumstances must be unique to the parcel in question.
  3. Do the special conditions and circumstances of Question 2 result from the actions of the applicant, or are they beyond the applicant’s control? Provide evidence that the hardship is not self-imposed.
  4. Will granting the variance confer on the applicant any special privilege that is denied to other lands, structures, or buildings relative to the property? Explain how the variance is not advocating for rights prior to neighboring properties or those in the same zoning district.
  5. Will granting the variance alter the essential character of the land in question? Though granting the variance allows deviation from the zoning code, the variance must not change the intent of the Code or change the character of neighbors who are in the same zoning district.