A.
A Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby established pursuant to N.J.S.A.
40:55D-69 et seq., consisting of seven regular members and two alternate
members, appointed by the Township Committee.
B.
All regular members and any alternate members shall be municipal
residents.
C.
No member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment may hold any elective
office or position under the municipality.
The regular members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall
serve for terms of four years from January 1 of the year of their
appointment. The terms of the members first appointed shall be so
determined that to the greatest practicable extent the expiration
of such terms shall be distributed evenly over the first four years
after their appointment, provided that the initial term of no member
shall exceed four years. Nothing in this chapter shall, however, be
construed to affect the terms of any present members of the Zoning
Board of Adjustment, all of whom shall continue in office until the
completion of the terms for which they were appointed.
A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of term shall
be filled for the unexpired term only.
A member may, after public hearing if he/she requests one, be
removed by the Township Committee for cause.
The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson
from its members and shall also select a Secretary who may be either
a Board member or a municipal employee designated by it.
A.
There shall be two alternate members of the Board of Adjustment appointed
by the Township Committee. The alternate members shall be designated
at the time of appointment as "Alternate No. 1" and "Alternate No.
2." The terms of the alternate members shall be for two years, except
that the terms of the alternate members shall be such that the term
of not more than one alternate member shall expire in any one year;
provided, however, that in no instance shall the terms of the alternate
members first appointed exceed two years. Notwithstanding the aforesaid,
the initial terms of the members shall be arranged so as to accomplish
the intent of this section.
B.
The alternate members may participate in discussion proceedings but
may not vote except in the absence or disqualification of a regular
member. A vote shall not be delayed in order that a regular member
may vote instead of an alternate member. In the event that a choice
must be made as to which alternate member is to vote, Alternate No.
1 shall vote.
Subject to the prior approval of the Township Committee, the
Zoning Board of Adjustment may also employ, or contract for, and fix
the compensation of legal counsel and such experts and other staff
and services as it may deem necessary. The Board shall not authorize
expenditures which exceed, exclusive of grants, the amount appropriated
by the governing body for its use.
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall have the following powers and duties,
as granted by law:
(1)
To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged by the appellant that
there is error in any order, requirement, decision or refusal made
by an administrative official or agency based on or made in the enforcement
of the Zoning Ordinance.
(2)
To hear and decide requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map
or Zoning Ordinance or for decisions upon other special questions
upon which such Board is authorized by the Zoning Ordinance to pass.
(3)
To grant variances, as follows:
(a)
Where:
[1]
By reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific
piece of property, or by reason of exceptional topographic conditions,
or by reason of other extraordinary and exceptional situation or condition
of such piece of property, the strict application of any regulation
in the Zoning Ordinance would result in peculiar and exceptional practical
difficulties to or exceptional and undue hardship upon the owner of
such property, grant a variance from such strict application, so as
to relieve such difficulties or hardship.
[2]
In an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property the purposes of this chapter would be advanced by a deviation from the Zoning Ordinance requirements and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, grant a variance to allow departure from any regulation in the Zoning Ordinance; provided, however, that no variance shall be granted under this subsection from those departures enumerated in Subsection A(3)(b) below, and further provided that the proposed development does not require approval by the Planning Board of a subdivision, site plan or conditional use.
(b)
Particular cases and special reasons.
[1]
In particular cases and for special reasons, grant a variance to
allow:
[a]
A principal use or structure in a district restricted against
such use or principal structure;
[b]
An expansion of a nonconforming use;
[c]
A deviation from a specification or standard pertaining solely
to a conditional use;
[d]
An increase in the permitted floor area ratio;
[e]
An increase in the permitted density, except as applied to the
required lot area for a lot or lots for detached one- or two-family
dwelling unit buildings, which lot or lots are either an isolated
undeveloped sized lot or lots resulting from a minor subdivision;
or
[f]
A height of a principal structure which exceeds by 10 feet or
10% the maximum height permitted in the district for a principal structure.
[2]
Such variances may only be granted by affirmative vote of at least
five members of the Board.
B.
No variance or other relief may be granted under the provisions of
this section unless such variance or other relief can be granted without
substantial detriment to the public good and will not substantially
impair the intent and purpose of the zone plan and Zoning Ordinance.
Any application under any subsection of this section may be referred
to any appropriate person or agency, including the Planning Board,
for its report, provided that such references shall not extend the
period of time within which the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act.
A.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall, in addition to the powers specified in § 230-20, have power given by law to:
(1)
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-34 for a
public building or structure in the bed of a mapped street or public
drainageway, flood control basin or public area reserved on the Official
Map.
(2)
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36 for a
building or structure not related to a street.
B.
The Board of Adjustment shall have the power to grant, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning Board, subdivision or site plan approval or conditional use approval pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67 whenever the Board is reviewing an application for approval of a variance pursuant to § 230-20A(3)(b) of this chapter.
A.
Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by any person aggrieved
or by an officer, department, board or bureau of the municipality
affected by any decision of the administrative officer. Each appeal
shall be taken within the 20 days prescribed by the statute by filing
a notice of appeal with the officer from whom the appeal was taken,
together with 14 copies of said notice with the Secretary/Land Use
Administrator. Said notice of appeal shall specify the grounds of
said appeal. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith
transmit to the Board all the papers constituting the record upon
which the action appealed from was taken.
B.
The Board of Adjustment shall render its decision not later than
120 days after the date an appeal is taken from the decision of an
administrative officer. Failure of the Board to render a decision
within such one-hundred-twenty-day period or within such further time
as may be consented to by the applicant shall constitute a decision
favorable to the applicant.
C.
An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action in respect
to which the decision appealed from was made, unless the officer from
whom the appeal is taken certifies to the Board of Adjustment after
the notice of appeal shall have been filed with him/her that by reason
of facts stated in the certificate a stay would, in his/her opinion,
cause imminent peril to life or property. In such case, proceedings
shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order of the Superior
Court of New Jersey on application or notice to the officer from whom
the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
D.
Upon appeal, the Board of Adjustment may, in conformity with the
provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., or amendments thereto or
subsequent statutes applying, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly,
or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed
from and make such other requirement, decision or determination as
ought to be made, and to that end have all the powers of the administrative
officer from whom the appeal was taken.
The Board shall adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary
to carry into effect the provisions and purposes of this chapter.
In the issuance of subpoenas, administration of oaths and taking of
testimony, the provisions of the County and Municipal Investigations
Law of 1953 (N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.
