14-12-103 SPECIAL USE PERMITS

For a period of five (5) years from the effective date of this Code, the City Council may, upon appeal and after review and recommendation from the Planning Commission, authorize special use permits for additional uses, or greater intensities or densities of use, of particular parcel within the Mountain Development and Watershed Protection Zone, provided that such special use permits will not be contrary to the public interest and, owing to special conditions unique to the parcel, a literal enforcement of the use limitations applicable to the parcel would cause extreme hardship to the owner. Any such special use permit which is granted shall thereafter expire unless the additional use, or greater intensity or density of use, permitted thereby is substantially commenced within one (1) year of the granting of the variance. Extreme hardship shall be found to exist only if the permitted uses leave the owner no worthwhile use, no means of obtaining an appreciable economic return, and only a bare residual value under applicable market conditions. Hardship shall not include owner-created hardship, nor shall hardship include any condition that results from prior use or abuse of the land by any current or prior owner of an interest in it, including prior extraction or destruction of the land's natural resources. Hardship resulting from voluntary subdivisions may be considered only (a) to the extent the subdivisions were approved and completed prior to the effective date of this Code or (b) if a finding is made that the original subdivided tract cannot be reconsolidated, in whole or in part, on an economically viable basis. No special use permit shall be authorized merely because the permitted uses, or intensities or densities or use, (a) result in practical difficulty, (b) provide less than the highest or best return to the owner, or (c) prevent a return proportionate to the current owner's investment in the parcel if, under applicable market conditions, the amount of such investment exceeds the fair market value which the parcel had in light of its use, adaptations for use, intensity or density of use or surface features at the time that the investment was made.