Any property owners may file an application for a variance from the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance of the City of Phenix City, Alabama where it is claimed that, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or shape, or by reason of other exceptional topographic conditions, or other extraordinary and exceptional situations or conditions of such place of property existing at the time of the adoption of the Ordinance, the strict application and literal enforcement of the provisions of the Ordinance would result in peculiar, exceptional undue and unnecessary hardship upon such owner.
It is the intent of the Ordinance that variances be used only to overcome some physical condition of a parcel of land, which poses a practical difficulty to its development and prevents its owner from using the property in conformance with the provisions of the Ordinance. Any variance granted shall be the minimum adjustment necessary for the reasonable use of the land.
All variance applicants must go before the Board of Zoning Adjustments and Appeals.