State Ex Rel. Ziervogel v. Washington County Board of Adjustment

¶ 1. We are called upon in this case to reconsider the legal standard by which zoning boards of adjustment measure "unnecessary hardship" when determining whether to grant area zoning variances.

¶ 2. The legislature has by statute vested local boards of adjustment with broad discretionary power to authorize variances where the strict enforcement of zoning regulations results in unnecessary hardship to individual property owners. "Unnecessary hardship," however, is not defined in the statute. It has fallen to courts to give meaning to the term.

¶ 3. The present, need to revisit the meaning of…