Missouri Revised Statutes













Chapter 65

Township Organization Counties

←65.687

Section 65.690.1

65.692→

August 28, 2015

Board of zoning adjustment, members, terms, compensation not allowed--powers, duties--grant of variances, when--judicial review.

65.690. 1. Any township board which appointed a township planning or

township zoning commission and which has adopted a zoning plan, as provided

in sections 65.650 to 65.700, shall appoint a township board of zoning

adjustment. The board shall consist of five freeholders, not more than one

of whom may be a member of the township planning commission or the township

zoning commission. The membership of the first board appointed shall serve

respectively: one for one year, one for two years, one for three years, two

for four years. Thereafter, members shall be appointed for terms of four

years each. Members shall be removable for cause by the township board upon

written charges and after public hearings. Vacancies shall be filled by the

township board for the unexpired term of any member whose term becomes vacant.

Members of the board shall serve without compensation, but may be reimbursed

for expenses incurred for attendance at not more than four meetings per year

in an amount to be set by the township board, not to exceed ten dollars per

meeting. The board of zoning adjustment shall elect its own chairman and

shall adopt rules of procedure consistent with the provisions of the zoning

regulations and the provisions of sections 65.650 to 65.700. The chairman, or

in his absence the acting chairman, may administer oaths and compel the

attendance of witnesses. All meetings of the board of zoning adjustment

shall be open to the public, and minutes shall be kept of all proceedings and

official actions, which minutes shall be filed in the office of the board and

shall be a public record. Appeals to the board of zoning adjustment may be

taken by any owner, lessee or tenant of land, or by a public officer,

department, board or bureau, affected by any decision of the administrative

officer in administering a township zoning rule. Such appeals shall be taken

within a period of not more than three months, and in the manner provided by

the rules stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from,

unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken shall certify to the board

that by reason of facts stated in the certificate a stay would, in his

opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. The board of adjustment

shall have the following powers and it shall be its duty:



(1) To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged there is error of law

in any order, requirement, decision or determination made by an

administrative official in the enforcement of the township zoning regulations;



(2) To hear and decide all matters referred to it or which it is required

to determine under the zoning regulations adopted by the township board as

herein provided;



(3) Where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, shape of

topography or other extraordinary or exceptional situation or condition of a

specific piece of property, the strict application of any regulation adopted

under sections 65.650 to 65.700 would result in peculiar and exceptional

difficulties to or exceptional and demonstrable undue hardship upon the owner

of the property as an unreasonable deprivation of use as distinguished from

the mere grant of a privilege, to authorize, upon an appeal relating to the

property, a variance from the strict application so as to relieve the

demonstrable difficulties or hardships, provided the relief can be granted

without substantial detriment to the public good and without substantially

impairing the intent, purpose, and integrity of the zone plan as embodied in

the zoning regulations and map.



2. In exercising the above powers, the board may reverse or affirm

wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or

determination appealed from and may make such order, requirement, decision or

determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the powers

of the officer from whom the appeal is taken. Any owners, lessees or tenants

of buildings, structures or land jointly or severally aggrieved by any

decision of the board of adjustment may appeal to the township board for

review. Any person aggrieved by a decision of the township board may present

to the circuit court of the county in which the property affected is located,

a petition, duly verified, stating that the decision is illegal in whole or

in part, specifying the grounds of the illegality and asking for relief

therefrom. Upon the presentation of the petition, the court shall allow a

writ of certiorari directed to the board of adjustment or the township board,

respectively, of the action taken and data and records acted upon, and may

appoint a referee to take additional evidence in the case. The court may

reverse or affirm or may modify the decision brought up for review. After

entry of judgment in the circuit court in the action in review, any party to

the cause may prosecute an appeal to the appellate court having jurisdiction

in the same manner now or hereafter provided by law for appeals from other

judgments of the circuit court in civil cases.



(L. 1989 S.B. 11 § 16)







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