Borough of Fort Lee, NJ Article III General Provisions

§ 345-7 Site plan approval required; certificate of occupancy.

A. Except as provided herein, no building excavation or foundation permit shall be issued for a building, structure or use, or any enlargement, expansion or change of use, unless a site plan is first submitted and approved by the Planning Board of the Borough, except wherever the Board of Adjustment has jurisdiction over a site plan pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-76, then and in that case by the Board of Adjustment. Hereafter, "municipal agency" shall mean either the Planning Board or Board of Adjustment of Fort Lee.

B. No certificate of occupancy shall be given unless all construction and conditions conform to the site plan as approved, unless conditionally approved by the Planning Board as provided herein.

§ 345-8 Exceptions.

A. Site plan review shall not be required for single-family and two-family detached dwellings or for such accessory uses as a private garage, tool house, gardens and private greenhouses, swimming pools and other similar uses incidental to a single- or two-family detached dwelling or for similar improvements as accessory uses to the principal use.

B. Site plan approval shall not be required where:

(1) Minor repairs to the interior of a building do not involve structural change or enlargement of the building, as determined by the Borough Building Inspector, or change or enlargement of the building, as determined by the Borough Building Inspector;

(2) Renovations or alterations to the exterior design of one- or two-family dwellings that do not involve any enlargement of the building or major structural change, as determined by the Borough Building Inspector; or

[Amended 8-17-2006 by Ord. No. 2006-41]

(3) The cost of construction, reconstruction or other improvement is less than $1,000.

C. The Building Inspector, at his discretion, may refer any application for a building permit to the Planning Board for site plan approval, Subsection B(1), (2) and (3) notwithstanding, where in the Inspector's judgment the construction, reconstruction, alteration or change of use will affect existing circulation, drainage, landscaping, lighting or off-street parking or the lack of any or all of these factors or other considerations as specified in this chapter.

D. Except as provided in this section, all construction, reconstruction, alteration or enlargement of a building, structure or use or a change of use or occupancy on or in a nonconforming structure, use or lot shall require site plan approval by the municipal agency.

§ 345-9 Small additions to existing uses, structures or buildings.

A. In cases where an applicant proposes to expand or otherwise enlarge an existing use, structure or building, the standards established by this chapter shall be applicable only to the new addition, provided that the same constitutes a small addition.

B. The area or dimension of any lot, yard, parking area or other space shall not be reduced to less than the minimum required by this chapter, and, if already less than the minimum required by this chapter, said area or dimension may be continued but shall not be further reduced.

§ 345-10 Other codes and ordinances.

The provisions of this chapter shall not limit in any way the requirements for submission and compliance with other municipal, county, state or federal regulations, resolutions, codes and ordinances.

§ 345-11 Referral to other agencies.

A. In addition to referral of site plans to other agencies required by law to review site plans, the municipal agency may refer site plans to any other local, county, state, federal or private or quasi-public agencies for their recommendations within their particular fields of expertise.

B. Each application for site plan approval, where required pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.6, shall be submitted by the applicant to the County Planning Board for review or approval, and the municipal agency shall condition any approval that it grants upon timely receipt of a favorable report on the application by the County Planning Board or approval by the County Planning Board by its failure to report thereon within 30 days, as set forth in § 245-40 herein.

§ 345-12 Modifications of standards.

A. The municipal agency, when acting upon applications for preliminary site plan approval, shall have the power to grant such exceptions from the requirements for site plan approval as may be reasonable and within the general purpose and intent of the provisions for site plan review and approval of this chapter, if the literal enforcement of one or more provisions of the chapter is impracticable or will exact undue hardship because of peculiar conditions pertaining to the land in question.

B. The Planning Board shall have the power to review and approve or deny conditional uses or site plans simultaneously with review for subdivision approval without the developer being required to make further application to the Planning Board or the Planning Board being required to hold further hearings. The longest time period for action by the Planning Board, whether it be for subdivision, conditional use or site plan approval, shall apply. Whenever approval of a conditional use is requested by the developer pursuant to this subsection, notice of the hearing on the plat shall include reference to the request for such conditional use.

§ 345-13 Applications subject to Board of Adjustment.

Any site plan application requiring precedent approval by the Board of Adjustment, upon favorable findings of the Board, shall require the applicant to submit sufficient copies of said resolution or resolutions to the Planning Board with the application for site plan approval. The Planning Board may also request any exhibits or other material which was submitted to the Board of Adjustment to be filed with the site plan application.