Glossary

Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA)

Also known as: Board of Adjustment, Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), ZBA, BZA

An appointed quasi-judicial body, separate from the planning commission and the elected governing body, with authority to grant variances, hear appeals of zoning administrator decisions, and, in some jurisdictions, decide special exceptions or conditional use applications.

Because a ZBA acts in a quasi-judicial rather than legislative capacity, its members are expected to apply the ordinance's specific variance or appeal standard to the facts of each application rather than exercise the broader policy discretion available to an elected council considering a rezoning, and ZBA proceedings correspondingly carry more procedural formality — sworn testimony in some jurisdictions, restrictions on ex parte communication between board members and applicants or opponents outside the hearing record, and a written decision with findings that a reviewing court can evaluate on appeal. A ZBA's jurisdiction is also the primary check on the zoning administrator's ministerial interpretations: a property owner who disagrees with a staff-level determination typically appeals that interpretation to the ZBA before any recourse to state court, making the board a mandatory step in the administrative exhaustion sequence a party generally must complete before seeking judicial review of a zoning administrator's decision. Board composition and the applicable standard of review for a variance vary significantly by state enabling statute, so practitioners confirm the specific procedural and evidentiary requirements locally rather than assuming a uniform national model.