§ 5. Board of building appeals.

(a)

The city council may provide for the creation and organization of a board of building appeals to which appeals may be taken from the decision of the building inspector upon any provision of the building code of the city.

(b)

The board shall consist of five or more members to serve for three (3) years overlapping terms. It shall have power to elect its own officers, to fix the times and places for its meetings, to adopt necessary rules of procedure, and to adopt all other rules and regulations not inconsistent herewith which may be necessary for the proper discharge of its duties; and it shall keep an accurate record of all its proceedings.

(c)

An appeal from any decision or order of the building inspector may be taken by any person aggrieved thereby or by any officer, board or commission of the city. Any appeal from the building inspector to the board shall be taken within such reasonable time as shall be prescribed by the board by general rule and shall be taken by filing with the building inspector and with the clerk or secretary of the board, or with such other person as may be designated by the board, a notice of appeal which shall specify the grounds upon which the appeal is based. Upon filing of any notice of appeal, the building inspector shall forthwith transmit to the board all the papers constituting the record upon which the decision appealed from was made. When an appeal is from a decision of the building inspector refusing to allow the person aggrieved thereby to do any act, his decision shall remain in force until modified or reversed by the board. When any appeal is from a decision of the building inspector requiring the person aggrieved to do any act, the appeal shall have the effect of suspending the requirement of the building inspector until the hearing by the board, unless the building inspector certifies to the board, after the notice of appeal is filed with him, that by reason of the facts stated in the certificate (a copy of which shall be furnished the appellant), a suspension of his requirement would cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case the requirement shall not be suspended except by a restraining order, which may be granted, for due cause shown and upon not less than one day's written notice to the building inspector, by the board or by the Superior Court of Robeson County.

(d)

The board shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of all appeals and shall render its decision within a reasonable time. Any party may appear in person or by agent or attorney. The board may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the decision appealed from, and may make such decision and order as in its opinion ought to be made in the matter, and to that end it shall have all the powers of the building inspector; but the concurring vote of four members of the board shall be necessary to reverse or modify any decision of the building inspector. In passing upon appeals, the board shall have power not only to determine whether the decision of the building inspector is made upon a proper construction of the pertinent provisions of the building code but it shall have power also to allow materials and methods of construction other than those required by the building code to be used when in its opinion other materials and methods of construction are as good as those required by the code; and for this purpose the requirements of the building code shall be considered as a standard to which construction shall conform. The board shall have power also in passing upon appeals, in any case where there are practical difficulties or unnecessary hardships in the way of carrying out the strict letter of the building code, to adapt the application of the code to the necessities of the case to the end that the spirit of the code shall be observed, public safety and welfare secured and substantial justice done.

(e)

Every decision of the board shall be subject to review by the Superior Court of Robeson County by proceedings in the nature of certiorari instituted within 15 days of the decision of the board, but not otherwise.

(f)

The city council in its discretion, may direct that the Lumberton Board of Adjustment referred to in section 2(d) of this article, and authorized by G. S. 160-178 [160A-388], shall also constitute and carry out the functions of the board of building appeals.