Board of Zoning Adjustment

About the Board

The County Executive appoints 5 members to serve a 4-year term. No more than 2 shall be residents of incorporated areas of St. Charles County.

The Board of Zoning Adjustment has the following duties:

• The Board may consider appeals of an action of the Director of the Division of Planning and Zoning when it has been alleged that a permit has been incorrectly issued or denied.
• The Board may consider appeals of a decision of the Director of the Division of Planning and Zoning in determining whether nonconforming uses exist under Sections 405.540-405.585 of the Unified Development Ordinance.
• The Board may hear appeals by property owners to grant relief (a “variance”) from strictly applying one or more zoning regulations because conditions of the property cause practical difficulties or a hardship for compliance. To grant relief, the owner of the property must prove the following to the board:

1. The variance is requested due to unique circumstances inherent to the specific piece of property and not to personal considerations of the property owner; and
2. The variance is not needed as the result of an affirmative act of the property owner that could have been avoided through a different course of action; and
3. The variance would not merely grant a special benefit to the property beyond what is enjoyed by other properties regulated by the same set of zoning regulations; and
4. The application of such non-use regulation would result in practical difficulties to the property owner. In determining whether "practical difficulties" exist, relevant factors to consider include whether, or to what degree, the owner can pursue the permitted use without a variance; the financial hardship to the property owner from the strict application of the regulation; how substantial the variance request is in relation to the regulation; whether the difficulty can be obviated by some method other than a variance; and whether such relief can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without substantially impairing the intent, purpose and integrity of the zoning regulations as embodied in the Unified Development Ordinance and maps.

If the Board of Zoning Adjustment determines that the above required standards are met, the Board may issue a variance, signed by the Chairperson, and set out the terms or conditions of the variance.

In no case shall the Board of Zoning Adjustment issue a variance permitting a use to be placed in a district in which it is not permitted in this Chapter or Chapter 410: Subdivision Regulations of the Unified Development Ordinance.

In no case shall the board decide an appeal from a legislative action of the County Council.

Decisions of the Board of Zoning Adjustment may be appealed to the County Council within fourteen (14) working days after the date the Board’s decision was mailed, in accordance with Section 405.639 of the County Code. Alternately, any Board decision may be appealed to the St. Charles County Circuit Court, as provided by appropriate State Statutes.