A code city which pursuant to this chapter creates a planning agency and which has twenty-five hundred or more inhabitants, by ordinance, shall create a board of adjustment and provide for its membership, terms of office, organization, jurisdiction. A code city which pursuant to this chapter creates a planning agency and which has a population of less than twenty-five hundred may, by ordinance, similarly create a board of adjustment. In the event a code city with a population of less than twenty-five hundred creates a planning agency, but does not create a board of adjustment, the code city shall provide that the city legislative authority shall itself hear and decide the items listed in subdivisions (1), (2), and (3) of this section. The action of the board of adjustment shall be final and conclusive, unless, within twenty-one days from the date of the action, the original applicant or an adverse party makes application to the superior court for the county in which that city is located for a writ of certiorari, a writ of prohibition, or a writ of mandamus. No member of the board of adjustment shall be a member of the planning agency or the legislative body. Subject to conditions, safeguards, and procedures provided by ordinance, the board of adjustment may be empowered to hear and decide:
(1) Appeals from orders, recommendations, permits, decisions, or determinations made by a code city official in the administration or enforcement of the provisions of this chapter or any ordinances adopted pursuant to it.
(2) Applications for variances from the terms of the zoning ordinance, the official map ordinance or other land-use regulatory ordinances under procedures and conditions prescribed by city ordinance, which among other things shall provide that no application for a variance shall be granted unless the board of adjustment finds:
(a) The variance shall not constitute a grant of special privilege inconsistent with the limitation upon uses of other properties in the vicinity and zone in which the property on behalf of which the application was filed is located; and
(b) That such variance is necessary, because of special circumstances relating to the size, shape, topography, location, or surroundings of the subject property, to provide it with use rights and privileges permitted to other properties in the vicinity and in the zone in which the subject property is located; and
(c) That the granting of such variance will not be materially detrimental to the public welfare or injurious to the property or improvements in the vicinity and zone in which the subject property is situated.
(3) Applications for conditional-use permits, unless such applications are to be heard and decided by the planning agency. A conditional use means a use listed among those classified in any given zone but permitted to locate only after review as herein provided in accordance with standards and criteria set forth in the zoning ordinance.
(4) Such other quasi-judicial and administrative determinations as may be delegated by ordinance.
In deciding any of the matters referred to in subsections (1), (2), (3), and (4) of this section, the board of adjustment shall issue a written report giving the reasons for its decision. If a code city provides for a hearing examiner and vests in him or her the authority to hear and decide the items listed in subdivisions (1), (2), and (3) of this section pursuant to RCW
35A.63.170, then the provisions of this section shall not apply to such a city.
