No member of the Planning Board or Zoning Board
of Adjustment shall act on any matter in which he has either directly
or indirectly any personal or financial interest. Whenever any such
member shall disqualify himself from acting on a particular matter,
he shall not continue to sit with the Board on the hearing of such
matter nor participate in any discussion or decision relating thereto.
A.
Meetings of both the Planning Board and the Zoning
Board of Adjustment shall be scheduled no less often than once a month,
and any meeting so scheduled shall be held as scheduled unless canceled
for lack of applications for development to process.
B.
Special meetings may be provided for at the call of
the Chairman or on the request of any two Board members, which shall
be held on notice to its members and the public in accordance with
all applicable legal requirements.
C.
No action shall be taken at any meeting without a
quorum being present.
D.
All actions shall be taken by majority vote of a quorum
except as otherwise required by any provision of Chapter 291, Laws
of New Jersey 1975.
E.
All regular meetings and all special meetings shall
be open to the public. Notice of all such meetings shall be given
in accordance with the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Law,
Chapter 231, Laws of New Jersey 1975.[1] An executive session for the purpose of discussing and
studying any matters to come before either board shall not be deemed
a regular or special meeting in accordance with the provisions of
N.J.S.A. 40:55D-9.
[1]
Editors Note: N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq.
Minutes of every regular or special meeting
shall be kept and shall include the names of the persons appearing
before and addressing the Board and of the persons appearing by attorney,
the action taken by the Board, the findings, if any, made by it and
reasons therefor. The minutes shall thereafter be made available for
public inspection during normal business hours at the office of the
Borough Clerk. Any interested party shall have the right to compel
production of the minutes for use as evidence in any legal proceeding
concerning the subject matter of such minutes. Such interested party
may be charged a fee for reproduction of the minutes for his use as
provided for in the rules of the board.
Fees for application or for the rendering of
any service by the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Adjustment or
any member of their administrative staffs are adopted as part of the
fee schedule adopted by the governing body. Said fee schedule shall
be available to the public.[1]
[Added 4-1-1985 by Ord. No. 4-851
An application for development shall be complete
for purposes of commencing the applicable time period for action by
a municipal agency when so certified by the municipal agency or its
authorized committee or designee. In the event that the agency, committee
or designee does not certify the application to be complete within
45 days of the date of its submission the application shall be deemed
complete upon the expiration of the forty-five-day period for purposes
of commencing the applicable time period unless the application lacks
information indicated on a checklist adopted by ordinance and provided
to the applicant and the municipal agency or its authorized committee
or designee has notified the applicant, in writing, of the deficiencies
in the application within 45 days of submission of the application.
The applicant may request that one or more of the submission requirements
be waived, in which event the agency or its authorized committee shall
grant or deny the request within 45 days. Nothing herein shall be
construed as diminishing the applicant's obligation to prove in the
application process that he is entitled to approval of the application.
The municipal agency may subsequently require correction of any information
found to be in error and submission of additional information not
specified in this chapter or any revisions in the accompanying documents,
as are reasonably necessary for approval of the application for development
have been met. The application shall not be deemed incomplete for
lack of any such additional information to any revisions in the accompanying
documents so required by the municipal agency.[1]
A.
Rules. The Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment
may make rules governing the conduct of hearings before such bodies,
which rules shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of N.J.S.A.
40:55D-1 et seq. or of this chapter.
B.
Oaths. The officer presiding at the hearing or such
person as he may be designated shall have power to administer oaths
and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the
production of relevant evidence, including witnesses and documents
presented by the parties, and the provisions of the County and Municipal
Investigations Law, P.L. 1953, c. 1938 (N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.),
shall apply.
C.
Testimony. The testimony of all witnesses relating
to an application for development shall be taken under oath or affirmation
by the presiding officer, and the right of cross examination shall
be permitted to all interested parties through their attorneys, if
represented, or directly, if not represented, subject to the discretion
of the presiding officer and to reasonable limitations as to time
and number of witnesses.
D.
Evidence. Technical rules of evidence shall not be
applicable to the hearing, but the Board may exclude irrelevant, immaterial
or unduly repetitious evidence.
E.
Records. Each board shall provide for the verbatim
recording of the proceedings by either stenographer, mechanical or
electronic means. The Board shall furnish a transcript or duplicate
recording in lieu thereof on request to any interested party at his
expense.
Whenever a hearing is required on an application
for development pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. the applicant
shall give notice thereof as follows:
A.
Public notice shall be given by publication in the
official newspaper of the municipality at least 10 days prior to the
date of the hearing.
B.
Notice shall be given to the owners of all real property
as shown on the current tax duplicate or duplicates located within
200 feet in all directions of the property which is the subject of
such hearing and whether located within or without the municipality
in which the applicant's land is located. Such notice shall be given
by: serving a copy thereof on the owner as shown on said current tax
duplicate or his agent in charge of the property or mailing a copy
thereof by certified mail to the property owner at his address as
shown on said current tax duplicate. A return receipt is not required.
Notice to a partnership owner may be made by service upon any partner.
Notice to a corporate owner may be made by service upon its president,
a vice president, secretary or other person authorized by appointment
or by law to accept service on behalf of the corporation.
C.
Notice of all hearings on applications for development involving property located within 200 feet of an adjoining municipality shall be given by personal service or certified mail to the Clerk of such municipality, which notice shall be in addition to the notice required to be given pursuant to Subsection B to the owners of lands in such adjoining municipality which are located within 200 feet of the subject premises.
D.
Notice shall be given by personal service or certified
mail to the County Planning Board of a hearing on an application for
development of property adjacent to an existing county road or proposed
road shown on the official County Map or on the County Master Plan,
adjoining other county land or situated within 200 feet of a municipal
boundary.
E.
Notice shall be given by personal service or certified
mail to the Commissioner of Transportation of a hearing on an application
for development of property adjacent to a state highway.
F.
Notice shall be given by personal service or certified
mail to the Director of the Division of State and Regional Planning
in the Department of Community Affairs of a hearing on an application
for development of property which exceeds 150 acres or 500 dwelling
units. Such notice shall include a copy of any maps or documents required
to be on file with the Borough Clerk pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-10.
G.
All notices hereinabove specified in this section
shall be given at least 10 days prior to the date fixed for hearing
and the applicant shall file an affidavit of proof of service with
the board holding the hearing on the application for development.
H.
Any notice made by certified mail as hereinabove required
shall be deemed to be complete upon mailing in accordance with the
provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-14.
I.
Form of notice. All notices required to be given pursuant
to the terms of this chapter shall state the date, time and place
of the hearing, the nature of the matters to be considered and identification
of the property proposed for development by street address, if any,
or by reference to lot and block numbers as shown on the current tax
duplicate in the Borough Tax Assessor's office and the location and
times at which any maps and documents for which approval is sought
are available as required by law.
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-12c, the Administrative Officer shall, within seven days after receipt of a request therefor and upon receipt of payment of a fee as specified in the fee schedule, make and certify a list from the current tax duplicate of names and addresses of owners to whom the applicant is required to give notice pursuant to § 37-37B of this chapter.
A.
A. The municipal agency shall include findings of
fact and conclusions based thereon in each decision on any application
for development and shall reduce the decision to writing. The municipal
agency shall provide the findings and conclusions through a resolution
adopted at a meeting held within the time period provided in the Act
for action by the municipal agency on the application for development;
or a memorializing resolution adopted at a meeting held not later
than 45 days after the date of the meeting at which the municipal
agency voted to grant or deny approval. Only the members of the municipal
agency who voted for the action taken may vote on the memorializing
resolution, and the vote of a majority of such members presented for
adoption shall he sufficient to adopt the resolution. An action pursuant
to Section 5 of the Act (N.J.S.A. 40:55-D) (resulting from the failure
of a motion to approve an application) shall be memorialized by resolution
as provided above, with those members voting against the motion for
approval being the members eligible to vote on the memorializing resolution.
The vote on any such resolution shall be deemed to be a memorialization
of the action of the municipal agency and not to be an action of the
municipal agency; however, the date of the adoption of the resolution
shall constitute the date of the decision for purposes of the mailings,
filings and publications required by the Act. If the municipal agency
fails to adopt a resolution or memorializing resolution as hereinabove
specified, any interested party may apply to the Superior Court in
a summary manner for an order compelling the municipal agency to reduce
its findings and conclusions to writing within a stated time, and
the cost of the application, including attorney's fees, shall be assessed
against the municipality.
[Amended 4-1-1985 by Ord. No. 4-85]
B.
A copy of the decision shall be mailed by the Board
within 10 days of the date of decision to the applicant, or if represented,
then to his attorney, without separate charge. A copy of the decision
shall also be mailed to all persons who have requested it and who
have paid the fee prescribed by the Board for such service. A copy
of the decision shall also be filed in the office of the Borough Clerk,
who shall make a copy of such filed decision available to any interested
party upon payment of a fee calculated in the same manner as those
established for copies of other public documents in the municipality.
A brief notice of every final decision shall
be published in the official newspaper of the municipality. Such publication
shall be arranged by the Administrative Officer without separate charge
to the applicant. Said notice shall be sent to the official newspaper
for publication within 10 days of the date of any such decision.
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-39
and N.J.S.A. 40:55D-65, every application for development submitted
to the Planning Board or to the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall be
accompanied by proof that no taxes or assessments for local improvements
are due or delinquent on the property which is the subject of such
application; or, if it is shown that taxes or assessments are delinquent
on said property, any approvals or other relief granted by either
Board shall be conditioned upon either the prompt payment of such
taxes or assessments, or the making of adequate provision for the
payment thereof in such manner that the Borough will be adequately
protected.
