Watsonville Municipal Code Art. 6 Appeal and Variance Procedures

(a) A variance may be granted for a parcel of property with physical characteristics so unusual that complying with the requirements of this Chapter would create an exceptional hardship to the applicant or the surrounding property owners. The characteristics must be unique to the property and not be shared by adjacent parcels. The unique characteristic must pertain to the land itself, not to the structure, its inhabitants, or the property owners. Mere economic or financial hardship alone is not exceptional. Inconvenience, aesthetic considerations, physical handicaps, personal preferences, or the disapproval of one’s neighbors likewise cannot, as a rule, qualify as an exceptional hardship. All of these problems can be resolved through other means without granting a variance, even if the alternative is more expensive, or requires the property owner to build elsewhere or put the parcel to a different use than originally intended.

(b) It is the desire of the Watsonville City Council to help protect its citizens from flooding. This need is so compelling and the implications of the cost of insuring a structure built below flood level are so serious that variances from the flood elevation or from other requirements in the flood ordinance are quite rare. The long-term goal of preventing and reducing flood loss and damage can best be met if variances are strictly limited.

(§ 1, Ord. 1121-01 C-M, eff. January 10, 2002)

In evaluating requests for variances, the Watsonville City Council shall consider all technical evaluations, all relevant factors, standards specified in other chapters of this title, and determine that the request will not result in:

(a) Materials being swept onto other lands and injuring others;

(b) Increased danger to life and property due to flooding or erosion damage;

(c) Increased susceptibility of the proposed facility and its contents of flood damage and the effect of such damage on the existing individual owner and future owners of the property;

(d) Reduction of services by the proposed facility to the community;

(e) Incompatible use between existing development and anticipated development;

(f) An inconsistency with the master plan and floodplain management program for the county and specific community;

(g) Inadequate emergency access to the property in time of flood;

(h) An increase in expected heights, velocity, duration, rate of rise, and sediment transport of the flood waters expected at the site; and

(i) Increased cost to the City and other agencies providing governmental services during and after flood conditions, including maintenance and repair of public utilities and facilities such as sewer, gas, electrical, and water system, and streets and bridges.

(§ 1, Ord. 1121-01 C-M, eff. January 10, 2002)

(a) Variances may be issued for new construction, substantial improvements, and other proposed new development to be erected on a lot contiguous to or surrounded by lots with existing structures constructed below the base flood level, provided that the procedures of this Chapter have been fully considered and complied with.

(b) Variances may be issued for the repair or rehabilitation of “historic structures,” upon a determination that the proposed repair or rehabilitation will not preclude the structure’s continued designation as an historic structure and the variance is the minimum necessary to preserve the historic character and design of the structure.

(c) Variances shall not be issued within any mapped regulatory floodway if any increase in flood level during the base flood discharge would result.

(d) Variances shall only be approved upon a determination that the variance is the “minimum necessary” considering the flood hazard, to afford relief. “Minimum necessary” means to afford relief with a minimum of deviation from the requirements of this ordinance. For example, in the case of variances to an elevation requirement, this means the Council need not grant permission for the applicant to build at grade, or even to the proposed elevation, but only to that elevation which the Council believes will provide relief and preserve the integrity of the property.

(e) In granting a variance, the Council may attach such conditions as it deems necessary to further the purposes of this Chapter.

(§ 1, Ord. 1121-01 C-M, eff. January 10, 2002)

In approving a request for a variance, the Council must make written findings of fact regarding the following:

(a) A showing of good and sufficient cause;

(b) A determination that failure to grant the variance would result in exceptional hardship to the applicant;

(c) A determination that the granting of a variance will not result in increased flood heights, additional threats to public safety, or extraordinary public expense, create a nuisance, cause fraud or victimization of the public, or conflict with existing local laws or ordinances; and

(d) That the applicant has signed a disclosure statement indicating that he or she understands that:

(1) The issuance of a variance to construct a structure below the base flood level will result in increased premium rates for flood insurance,

(2) Such construction below the base flood level increases risks to life and property, and

(3) A copy of the disclosure will be filed and recorded by the County Recorder in a manner so that it appears as an exception on the title of the affected parcel of land.

(§ 1, Ord. 1121-01 C-M, eff. January 10, 2002)