§ 6.16.230. Conditions for variances.

(a)

Variances may be issued for the reconstruction, rehabilitation or restoration of structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places or the State Inventory of Historic Places, without regard to the procedures set forth in the remainder of this article.

(b)

Variances shall not be issued within any designated floodway if any increase in flood levels during the base flood discharge would result.

(c)

Variances shall be issued only upon a determination that the variance is the minimum necessary, considering the flood hazard, to afford relief.

(d)

Variances shall be based only upon:

(1)

A showing of good and sufficient cause such as renovation, rehabilitation or reconstruction. Variances issued for economic considerations, aesthetics, or because variances have been used in the past, are not good and sufficient cause;

(2)

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

(3)

A determination that the granting of a variance will not result in increased flood heights, additional threats to public safety, extraordinary public expense, create nuisances, cause fraud on or victimization to the public, or conflict with existing local laws or ordinances.

(e)

Variances may be issued for new construction and substantial improvements and for other development necessary for the conduct of a functionally dependent use provided that the provisions of subsection (a) through (d) of this section are satisfied and that the structure or other development is protected by methods that minimize flood damages during the base flood and create no additional threats to public safety.

(f)

Any applicant to whom a variance is granted shall be given written notice that the structure will be permitted to be built with a specified lowest flood elevation below the base flood elevation and that the cost of flood insurance will be as high as twenty-five dollars for one hundred dollars of insurance coverage. A copy of the notice shall be recorded by the floodplain administrator in the office of the Ventura County Recorder and shall be recorded in a manner so that it appears in the chain of title of the affected parcel of land.

(Ord. 735 § 5, 1998; Ord. 602 § 1 (part), 1988)