Following are the steps required in requesting a variance:
- Applicant submits application, a letter of intent, plat of property, and fees to the Zoning Administrator. (Refer to Article 20, Section 3-462, (B) (1) for Definition of Variance)
- Zoning Administrator determines if all submission requirements have been met. Advise applicant within 30 days if additional material needs to be submitted.
- Zoning Administrator notifies applicant that application has been received and is being processed. Zoning Administrator prepares analyses for Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).
- Board of Zoning Appeals holds public hearing and reviews application. The Board of Zoning Appeals shall make no decision on any variance until it has conducted a public hearing thereon after giving public notice as required by the provision of Section 15.2-2204 and 15.2-2205 of the Code of Virginia (1950), as amended, which provisions shall be incorporated into the rules of the BZA. The public hearing must be heard within sixty (60) days of the date such application was deemed complete.
- The Zoning Administrator shall also transmit copies of all variances to the Planning Commission, which may send a recommendation to the BZA or appear as a party at the hearing.
- In the event an application for a variance is denied by the BZA, substantially, the same application will not be considered by the BZA within six (6) months of the date the application is denied.
- A variance grated by the BZA shall lapse and be of no effect if, after the expiration of one (1) year from the date of such action by the BZA, no construction or change in use pursuant to such variance has take place; provided that the BZA may, for good cause shown, specify a longer period of time in conjunction with its action to grant a variance.
Virginia Code section 15.2-2201 defines a variance as “a reasonable deviation from those provisions regulating the shape, size, or area of a lot or parcel of land or the size, height, area, bulk, or location of a building or structure when the strict application of the ordinance would unreasonably restrict the utilization of the property, and such need for a variance would not be shared generally by other properties, and provided such variance is not contrary to the purpose of the ordinance. It shall not include a change in use, which change shall be accomplished by a rezoning or by a conditional zoning.”