Code of Ordinances

When­ev­er the stan­dards of this Code place undue hard­ship on a spe­cif­ic devel­op­ment pro­pos­al, the appli­cant may apply to the Coun­ty Board of Com­mis­sion­ers for a vari­ance.  The Coun­ty Board of Com­mis­sion­ers shall review the applicant’s request for a vari­ance and shall sub­mit its rec­om­men­da­tion to the Coun­ty Board of Com­mis­sion­ers.  The Coun­ty Board of Com­mis­sion­ers may attach such con­di­tions to grant­i­ng of a vari­ance as it deems nec­es­sary to fur­ther the intent of this Code.

(A) No vari­ance shall be grant­ed unless the appli­cant demon­strates that all of the fol­low­ing con­di­tions are met:

1. The devel­op­ment activ­i­ty can­not be locat­ed out­side the floodplain.
2. An excep­tion­al hard­ship would result if the vari­ance were not granted.
3. The relief request­ed is the min­i­mum necessary.
4. There will be no addi­tion­al threat to pub­lic health, safe­ty or cre­ation of a nuisance.
5. There will be no addi­tion­al pub­lic expense for flood pro­tec­tion, res­cue or relief oper­a­tions, polic­ing, or repairs to roads, util­i­ties, or oth­er pub­lic facilities.
6. The applicant’s cir­cum­stances are unique and do not estab­lish a pat­tern incon­sis­tent with the intent of the NFIP.
7. All oth­er state and fed­er­al per­mits have been obtained.

(B) The Coun­ty Super inten­dent of High­ways shall noti­fy an appli­cant in writ­ing that a vari­ance from the require­ments of the build­ing pro­tec­tion stan­dards of Sec­tion 14–1‑7 that would lessen the degree of pro­tec­tion to a build­ing will:

1. Result in increased pre­mi­um rates for flood insur­ance up to Twen­­ty-FiveDol­lars ($25.00) per One Hun­dred Dol­lars ($100.00) of insur­ance coverage;
2. Increase the risks to life and prop­er­ty; and
3. Require that the appli­cant pro­ceed with knowl­edge of these risks and that the appli­cant acknowl­edge in writ­ing the assump­tion of the risk and liability.

(C) Vari­ances to the build­ing pro­tec­tion require­ments of Sec­tion 14–1‑7 of this Code which are request­ed in con­nec­tion with the recon­struc­tion, repair, or alter­ation of a his­toric site or his­toric struc­ture as defined in “His­toric Struc­tures”, may be grant­ed using cri­te­ria more per­mis­sive than the require­ments of Sec­tions 14–1‑6 and 14–1‑7 of this Code sub­ject to the con­di­tions that:

1. The repair or reha­bil­i­ta­tion is the min­i­mum nec­es­sary to pre­serve the his­toric char­ac­ter and design of the structure.
2. The repair or reha­bil­i­ta­tion will not result in the struc­ture being removed as a cer­ti­fied his­toric structure.