Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/05/2015

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January 25, 2015 1 Volume 9 1 Issue 2 Zoning Bulletin be filed until 180 days after the governmental entity is given notice of the claims (Fla. Stat. § 70.011(4)(a)) (which here was July 21, 2004). Variance—Property owner seeks area variance to convert house to church City argues that variance is unwarranted because any hardship is personal Citation: Faith Walk Fellowship Church v. Cleveland, 2014 -Ohio -5035, 2014 WL 6065658 (Ohio Ct. App. 8th Dist. Cuyahoga County 2014) OHIO (11/13/14)—This case addressed the issue of whether a land- owner was entitled to an area variance. The Background/Facts: Faith Walk Fellowship Church ("Faith Walk") owned a single-family residence in a single-family residential zoning district in the City of Cleveland, Ohio (the "City"). Faith Walk sought to use the house as a church. A church was a permitted use in the single- family residential zoning district as long as the church was at least 15 feet from any adjoining premises. Because the house that Faith Walk wished to use as a church was less than 15 feet from the adjoining premises, Faith Walk applied to the City for an area variance. Ultimately, the City's Board of Zoning Appeals ("BZA") denied the variance request on grounds that it would have an adverse effect on neighboring property owners, would be inconsistent with the character of the surrounding neighborhood, and would be contrary to the purpose and intent of the City's zoning code. Faith Walk appealed. The court of common pleas affirmed the BZA's decision. DECISION: Judgment of court of common pleas affirmed. The Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga County, held that Faith Walk was not entitled to the grant of an area variance because any hardship it suffered was personal. In so holding, the court explained that, "[u]nlike the more stringent 'use' variance, an `area' variance will be granted upon a showing of `practical difficulties rather than unnecessary hardship.' Under the City's ordinance, in order to obtain the variance, Faith Walk needed to prove three conditions. First, it needed to show that Faith Walk would have practical difficulty using the house as a church without the variance, and that the practical difficulty was peculiar to the premises because of physi- cal size, shape, or other characteristics of the premises (which differentiate it from other premises in the same district and create a difficulty or hard - 10 © 2015 Thomson Reuters