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Portland City Code ch. 14

Citation
Portland City Code ch. 14
Parent Document
Portland City Code ch. 14
Jurisdiction
Portland (municipal)

Other Sections in This Document (541)

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board may grant a variance to an owner of        above, the Board of Appeals may grant a
         a residential dwelling for the purpose of        variance from the dimensional standards of this
         making that dwelling accessible to a person      Land Use Code that relate to lot area, lot
         with a disability who resides in or regularly    coverage, frontage, and setback requirements
         uses the dwelling. The board shall restrict      when strict application of these standards
         any variance granted under this subsection       would both preclude a permitted use of the
         solely to the installation of equipment or       property and result in significant economic
         the construction of structures necessary         injury to the applicant. Significant economic
         for access to or egress from the dwelling        injury shall mean that the value of the property
         by the person with the disability. The           if the variance were denied would be
         board may impose conditions on the               substantially lower than its value if the variance
         variance, including limiting the variance to     were granted. To satisfy this standard, the
         the duration of the disability or to the time    applicant need not prove that denial of the
         that the person with the disability lives in     variance would mean the practical loss of all
         the dwelling. The term “structures               beneficial use of the land. In granting a
         necessary for access to or egress from the       practical difficulty variance, all of the following
         dwelling” shall include railing, wall, or roof   conditions must be found to exist:
         systems necessary for the safety or              1.   The need for a variance is due to the
         effectiveness of the structure. For the               unique circumstances of the property, and
         purpose of this subsection, a disability has          not to the general conditions in the
         the same meaning as a physical or mental              neighborhood.
         disability under 5 M.R.S. § 4553.                2.   The granting of the variance will not
    2.   By the Building Authority.                            produce an undesirable change in the
         Notwithstanding the provisions of                     character of the neighborhood and will not
         subsections (B) and (C(1)) above, the                 have an unreasonably detrimental effect
         Building Authority may issue a permit to              on either the use or fair market value of
         the owner of a dwelling for the purpose of            abutting properties.
         making a dwelling accessible to a person         3.   The practical difficulty is not the result of
         with a disability who resides in or regularly         action taken by the applicant or a prior
         uses the dwelling. If the permit requires a           owner.
         variance, the permit is deemed to include        4.   No other feasible alternative is available to
         that variance solely for the installation of          the applicant, except a variance.
         equipment or the construction of                 5.   The granting of a variance will not have an
         structures necessary for access to or                 unreasonably adverse effect on the natural
         egress from the dwelling for the person               environment.
         with a disability.                               6.   The property is not located, in whole or in
D. Practical difficulty variance. Notwithstanding              part, within a shoreland area, as defined in
    the provisions of subsections (B) and (C)                  38 M.R.S. § 435, nor within a Shoreland 2-14 | CITY OF PORTLAND LAND USE CODE ADMINISTRATION