§ 5-305. Major variances.

(a) Review standards.

The Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals or the City Council, as the case may be, must evaluate the request for a variance, based on the evidence presented at a public hearing, in accordance with the standards in § 5-308 {"Approval standards"} of this subtitle.

(b) Procedures before the BMZA.

(1) Public hearing required.

(i) The Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals must consider a proposed major variance in a public hearing.

(ii) Notice of the public hearing must be given in accordance with Title 5, Subtitle 6 {"Notices"} of this Code.

(iii) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the hearing must be concluded no more than 90 days from the Board's receipt of the completed application.

(2) Waiver of time limit.

(i) If, in the judgment of the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals, the application does not contain sufficient information to enable the Board to properly discharge its responsibilities, the Board may request additional information from the applicant or from City agencies or officials.

(ii) In that event, the 90-day period will be suspended or the public hearing continued pending receipt of all requested information.

(iii) The applicant may also waive this time limit by requesting a postponement from the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals.

(3) Decision by Board.

(i) The Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals must render its written decision, approving, approving with conditions, or denying the application, within 30 days of the close of the public hearing.

(ii) The Board may extend this period for up to an additional 60 days for good cause on a majority vote of the Board at a publicly scheduled meeting.

(4) Cessation of BMZA procedures.

(i) All actions and other procedures taken under this subsection must immediately cease if:

(A) the Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals has not rendered a written decision under this subsection; and

(B) the City Council has referred to the Board a bill to approve the variance by ordinance.

(ii) On this cessation of procedures, the application is deemed to be voluntarily withdrawn by the applicant.

(c) Legislative limitation.

No legislation may be introduced to approve a major variance after the Board of Zoning Appeals has rendered a written decision on an application involving the same subject matter.