Opinion ID: 2374771
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Validity of Denial of Variance

Text: Section IV(B)(3) of the zoning ordinance provides that a variance may be granted by the Board if the applicant can show unnecessary hardship. 30 M.R.S.A. § 4963(3) (1978 & Supp. 1982-1983), which empowers municipal boards of appeal to grant variances, states: 3. Variance. A variance may be granted by the board only where strict application of the ordinance, or a provision thereof, to the petitioner and his property would cause undue hardship. The words undue hardship as used in this subsection mean: A. That the land in question cannot yield a reasonable return unless a variance is granted; B. That the need for a variance is due to the unique circumstances of the property and not to the general conditions in the neighborhood; C. That the granting of a variance will not alter the essential character of the locality; and D. That the hardship is not the result of action taken by the applicant or a prior owner. The burden was on the Sibleys to prove at the agency level that they met all of these statutory requirements. See Driscoll v. Gheewalla, 441 A.2d 1023, 1029 (Me.1982). The Board concluded that the last three requirements were not met. The Superior Court was bound, as is this court, to affirm the Board's denial of the requested variances unless that denial was unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable. See id. The Superior Court correctly rejected the Sibleys' attack on the Board's decision.
The Sibleys contend that because lot # 29 is only 50 feet wide, and because the property is subject to a deed restriction requiring any structure built upon it to be at least 26 feet wide, the circumstances of the lot are unique. However, the mere fact that the lot is substandard is not a unique circumstance; all the undeveloped lots in that neighborhood are of substandard size. See 3 R. Anderson, American Law of Zoning § 18.58 (1977). Although it is the deed restriction that combines with the small lot size to present a problem for the Sibleys, they did not show at the hearing before the Board that the deed restriction is unique to their property. In fact, there was discussion at the hearing that many parcels in the Buena Vista Park subdivision are burdened in the same way. Moreover, since the Sibleys do own the adjacent lot # 30, they can easily build without violating the sideline setback requirements of the ordinance. Administrative relief is not warranted where the owner of contiguous substandard lots can solve his own problem by combining them to meet the minimum requirements of the zoning regulations. In such a case, his development plans may have to be revised, and he may not be able to extract the maximum profit from his tract, but he has not been denied reasonable use of his land. 3 Anderson, supra, § 18.54, at 291. In other words, ownership also of lot # 30 eliminates any hardship that otherwise might result to the Sibleys from the small size of lot # 29 and the deed restriction applicable to it.
The hardship relied upon by the Sibleys before the Board was the fact that if they could not build their house on lot # 29 the property would be worth only $1,000, as opposed to the $4,200 that they paid for it. The Sibleys claim that the hardship is not the result of their own action because the lot was established before the zoning ordinance was enacted. However, when a landowner purchases land with actual or constructive knowledge of the zoning restrictions, he may not be granted a variance on the grounds of undue hardship. 3 Anderson, supra, § 18.42. The Sibleys were charged with knowledge, when they bought lot # 29, of the zoning ordinance provisions that would create problems both because of the lot size and because of the deed restriction contained in their deed to the lot. [4]