FOREST COUNTY

Application For Variance

What is a variance?

A variance authorizes a property owner to use property or place structures in a manner

prohibited by the zoning ordinance.

What are the Applicants Responsibilities?

The burden is on the applicant or property owner to provide verifiable facts upon which

the Board of Adjustment can make its decision. A scale drawing of the property must be

included with the application. The location of property lines, septic systems, wells and the

proposed construction must be clearly marked on the property. It is up to you to make your

case! At the hearing, any party may appear in person or be represented by and agent or

attorney. A scale drawing of the property is required.

What types of variances are there?

There are area variances and use variances. An area variance relaxes restrictions on

dimensions, such as setback, frontage, height, bulk, density and area. A use variance grants

permission for a use which in not permitted by the zoning ordinance.

What are the standards for granting variances?

Each variance request is taken individually by the Board of Adjustment. That means that

previous decisions on similar or neighboring properties, or even decisions made in the same

hearing, do not set a binding precedent that must be followed. Each situation is unique. In

general, the Board considers the following tests in determining whether a variance should be

granted or denied.

To authorize a variance, the Board must find four things: (1) Due to special conditions, a

literal enforcement of the ordinance will result in " unnecessary hardship." (2) The variance is

needed so that the" spirit of the ordinance" will be observed. (3) "Substantial justice" will be

done by granting the variance. (4) The variance will not be contrary to the public interest. The

board must find all four things in order to grant a variance. Usually, the most difficult thing for

an owner to prove is unnecessary hardship.

Unnecessary Hardship.

The legal standard of" unnecessary hardship" is different for the two types of variance.

Unnecessary hardship exists for an area variance is compliance with the strict letter of the

restrictions governing area, setbacks, frontage, height, bulk or density would unreasonably

prevent the owner from using the property for a permitted purpose or would render conformity

with such restrictions unnecessarily burdensome.

In seeking a use variance, to show unnecessary hardship, the property owner must

demonstrate that without the variance, the owner has no reasonable use of the property.

Where the record before the board demonstrates that the owner would have any reasonable

use of the property without the variance, the variance should be denied.

What factors should the board consider in determining whether this standard is met in

individual cases of area variances?

The board should consider the purpose of the zoning restriction in question (including

the purpose of shoreland zoning, if applicable), its effect on the property, and the effect of a

variance on the neighborhood and the larger public interest. The board should analyze the facts

of each case in light of the purpose of the zoning restriction. The board should distinguish

hardships that are unnecessary in light of unique conditions of the property and the purpose of

the ordinance from hardships that do not warrant a variance, either because they are

inconsequential or not unique or because a variance would unduly undermine the purpose of

the ordinance or the public interest.