Consolidated Management, Inc. v. City of Cleveland

The issue before us centers on the statutory construction of certain provisions of the Cleveland zoning code and whether a variance was properly issued pursuant to such provisions. The lower courts, in construing the code, upheld the granting of appellees’ variance without requiring evidence of unreasonable hardship or practical difficulty to the property in question. We disagree with this interpretation and, therefore, reverse the lower court’s decision.

A variance is intended to permit amelioration of strict compliance of the zoning ordinance in individual cases. It is designed to afford…