Boards of Adjustment

Schedule of Meetings (PDF)

Public Hearings (PDF)

The Board of Adjustment is a "quasi-judicial" board consisting of representatives appointed proportionally from citizens inside the town limits and the ETJ by the Town Council of Clayton and Johnston County Board of Commissioners. An ex-officio member of a board or committee is one who is a member of the board or committee by virtue of holding some particular office in the Town. Regular and alternate members shall be appointed for three (3) year terms. Vacancies occurring for reasons other than the expiration of terms shall be filled for the unexpired term only by the legislative body responsible for original appointment.

The term "quasi-judicial" is used because the Board’s power is above that of the code enforcement officers, but below that of the Courts. The Board exists because it is the most effective and efficient method of maintaining a zoning ordinance that meets the needs of the community and addresses hardship in individual cases. The board serves to interpret the town ordinances and policies for unique situations or special cases. If the Board did not exist, each of these individual cases could go before a Court of Law as a suit or before the legislative body as a request for a change to the town ordinance. Each of these options are expensive and time consuming.

The Board of Adjustment provides the Town and its citizens with a process of dealing with exceptions without legal action and without changing the zoning ordinance. Property owners who feel that practical or unnecessary hardships exist on the property by or because of the zoning ordinance may petition the Board. The Board of Adjustment meetings are held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 5:30pm in the Town Hall.

The Board has the power to grant:

• Variances;
• Conditional Uses;
• Appeals and Interpretations.

DUTIES

Variances: A variance is a permit, which the Board may grant in certain situations, that enables a property owner to make use of the property in some way that conflicts with the literal provisions of the zoning ordinance. A variance shall not be granted unless and until the board finds:

• That there are exceptional conditions pertaining to the particular piece of property in question because of its shape, size, or topography, that are not applicable to other lands or structures in the same district, or there is a peculiar characteristic of an establishment which makes the parking and/or loading requirements of this chapter unrealistic.
• That granting the variance requested will not confer upon the applicant any special privileges that are denied to other residents of the district in which the property is located.
• That a literal interpretation of the provisions of this chapter would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by other residents of the district in which the property is located.
• That the requested variance will be in harmony with the purpose and intent of this chapter and will not be injurious to the neighborhood or to the general welfare.
• That the special circumstances are not the result of the actions of the applicant.
• That the variance requested is the minimum variance that will make possible the legal use of the land, building, or structure.
• That the variance is not a request to permit a use which is not a permitted or conditional use in the district involved.
• That the variance is not granted simply because by the granting the variance, the property could be utilized more profitably or that the developer/owner would save money.

Conditional Uses: A Conditional Use is a permit that the Zoning Ordinance authorizes to be granted in particular zoning classifications under stated conditions. Each zoning classification has a list of the uses that can be constructed and a list of uses that may be allowed to be constructed. (See the Zoning Ordinance for more details.) The Board of Adjustment is given the authority to determine if one or more of these conditional uses will be permitted on a specific piece of property. The Board will make its decision by comparing the specified criteria in the zoning ordinance with the factual evidence before it. Under no circumstances can the Board grant a conditional use for a use not specifically listed in a zoning district.

Appeals: The Board is given the responsibility of correcting any mistakes or abuses of discretion made by the code enforcement officers. In this process, it is important to note that the Board does not have the power to change the ordinance and is limited to interpretation of the ordinance. Its decisions are based on what the Board believes to be the actual meaning and intent of the ordinance.

MEMBERS

EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS

(I)= Inside Town Limits
(ETJ)= Outside Town Limits, but inside Extra Territorial Jurisdiction planning boundary