525.470. - Authorized variances.
Variances from the regulations of this zoning ordinance shall be granted by the board of adjustment, city planning commission, or city council only in accordance with the requirements of Section 525.460, and may be granted only in the following instances, and in no others:
(1) To vary the yard requirements, including permitting obstructions into required yards not allowed by the applicable regulations.
(2) To vary the lot area or lot width requirements up to thirty (30) percent, except that lot area or lot width variances for K-12 schools shall be governed by 525.470(3) below.
(3) To vary the lot area or lot width requirements up to fifty (50) percent for schools, grades K-12.
(4) To vary the gross floor area or floor area ratio requirements of a structure or use.
(5) To vary the maximum lot coverage and impervious surface coverage requirements.
(6) Unless otherwise controlled by conditional use permit or an administrative height increase, to vary the height requirements for any structure, except signs.
(7) To permit an increase in the maximum height of a fence.
(8) To vary the screening and landscaping requirements of this zoning ordinance.
(9) To vary the enclosed building requirements of this zoning ordinance.
(10) To vary any standards governing off-street parking, loading, driveways, drive aisles, and curb cuts, except that the following shall not be varied:
a. The location of off-site parking not otherwise allowed in an urban neighborhood or residential mixed-use district.
b. Travel demand management regulations.
(11) To reduce the minimum distance between an accessory structure or open parking space and a residential use, as specified in section 545.380.
(12) To vary the width and location restrictions on attached garages facing the front lot line for residential uses.
(13) To vary the district standards for the size requirements of required nonresidential and commercial spaces by up to thirty (30) percent in the CM3, CM4, and DT2 Districts.
(14) To vary the specific use standards of Chapter 545, Article II, Specific Use Standards, except that specific minimum distance and spacing requirements may be varied only to allow for the relocation of an existing use where the relocation will increase the spacing between such use and any use from which it is nonconforming as to spacing, or will increase the distance between such use and any protected boundary or use from which it is nonconforming as to distance.
(15) To vary the development and use standards of Chapter 545, Article III, Accessory Uses and Structures.
(16) To vary the standards of Chapter Article IX, Accessory Dwelling Unit Standards, except that the owner occupancy requirement for internal accessory dwelling units and the limit of one (1) accessory dwelling unit per zoning lot shall not be varied.
(17) To vary the standards of Chapter 550, Article XIV, Plazas.
(18) To vary the standards of Chapter 550, Article XV, Skyways.
(19) To permit development on a zoning lot existing on the effective date of this ordinance that cannot comply with the requirement of frontage on a public street, where it is determined that there is sufficient access to the property without such frontage.
(20) To vary the minimum width of single-, two-, and three-family dwellings provided the dwelling is located on a zoning lot existing on the effective date of this ordinance that is forty (40) feet or less in width.
(21) To vary the requirement for enclosed storage for new single-, two-, and three-family dwellings.
(22) To permit development in the SH Shoreland Overlay District on a steep slope or bluff, or within forty (40) feet of the top of a steep slope or bluff.
(23) To permit development in the SH Shoreland Overly District within fifty (50) feet of a protected water.
(24) To permit alternative forms of flood protection for uses and structures located in the FP Floodplain Overlay District, provided no variance shall permit a lower degree of flood protection than the regulatory flood protection elevation for the particular area or permit standards lower than those required by state law. In areas designated as AO zones on the flood insurance rate map, a variance may be granted to the requirement that buildings be elevated to one (1) foot above the elevation of the ground surface prior to construction next to the proposed walls of the building, provided the application includes a detailed hydraulic analysis that supports such variance as sound floodplain management and a letter of map revision from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
(25) To vary the standards of any overlay district, other than the SH Shoreland Overly District, FP Floodplain Overlay District, and built form overlay districts. The standards of the SH Shoreland Overly District, FP Floodplain Overlay District, and any built form overlay district may be varied only as allowed by another authorized variance in this section of the zoning code.
(26) To vary the number, type, height, area, or location of allowed on-premises signs on property located in a residential mixed-use, commercial mixed-use, downtown, production, or transportation district, pursuant to Chapter 560, Signs.
(Ord. No. 2025-023, § 3, 5-15-2025)
