§ 9.1. Variance procedures and notification requirements.

A.

Procedures.

1.

Decisions regarding variances and appeals relative to this chapter shall be made by the St. Leo town commission.

2.

All applications for a variance or appeal shall be submitted on a form established by the Town of St. Leo. The town commission shall also establish fees for variance and appeal requests. All applications for a variance shall include written responses to the variance hardship criteria in this article.

3.

Variance requests shall be heard pursuant to quasi-judicial proceedings and public hearing/notification procedures established by the town commission.

B.

Public notification requirements.

1.

If the variance application submittal requirements have been met as determined by the town commission or its designee, then the town commission shall set a public hearing date within 45 days from the date that it is determined that the application is sufficient for review.

2.

The applicant shall be responsible for notice of the public hearing to the surrounding owners of property within 1,000 feet, excluding the distance over water bodies, of the perimeter of the subject property boundaries. At a minimum, at least the five closest abutting property owners shall be notified. Said notice shall be on a public hearing notice form that will be provided to the applicant by the Town of St. Leo. The town clerk will contact the applicant when the notice letter is ready. Information regarding the list of property owners within 1,000 feet can be obtained from the Pasco County Property Appraiser's office.

3.

The applicant shall mail the public hearing letter to the surrounding property owners as required in this chapter by U.S. Postal Service, certificate of mailing at least 15 days prior to the public hearing date. A copy of the certificate of mailing must be provided to the town clerk at least five calendar days prior to the public hearing date.

4.

The town commission or its designee shall be responsible for placement of the advertisement for the public hearing in the local newspaper at least seven calendar days prior to the public hearing date.

5.

Failure by the applicant to provide the public hearing notice may be cause for the town commission to defer action or deny the application without prejudice.

C.

Administrative variance procedure.

1.

Pursuant to this code, certain administrative variances may be granted as specifically defined in this code in order to protect environmentally sensitive lands, existing grand and protected trees and address minor waivers to code requirements. Administrative variances may be granted with or without conditions for the following:

a.

Building/structure, excluding signs, setbacks up to five feet.

b.

Permitted rear and side setback encroachments up to two feet.

c.

Landscape buffer width requirements up to five feet.

d.

Sign area up to ten percent.

e.

Parking requirement up to ten percent.

Administrative variances may be granted by the town commission or its designee without a public hearing. Notice to adjacent affected property owners may be required by the town commission or its designee prior to a decision.

(Ord. No. 11-01, § 2, 1-10-2011; Ord. No. 12-01, § 3, 12-12-2011)