No member of the Planning Board 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 the Planning Board 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 the statutory provisions enumerated in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-9a or this chapter.
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 Act, P.L. 1975, c. 231.[1] An executive session for the purpose of discussing and studying any matters to come before the agency shall not be deemed a regular or special meeting within the meaning of this chapter.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 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 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 Municipal 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 reasonable fee for reproduction of the minutes for his use as provided for in the rules of the Board.
Fees for applications or for the rendering of any service by the Planning Board or any member of its administrative staff which are not otherwise provided by ordinance may be provided for and adopted as part of the rules of the Board, and copies of said rules or of the separate fee schedule shall be available to the public.
A. 
Rules. The Board shall make rules governing the conduct of hearings before it, 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 designate 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. 38 (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 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. The 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.
A. 
Whenever a hearing is required on an application for development pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. or pursuant to the determination of the municipal agency in question, the applicant shall give notice thereof as follows:
(1) 
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.
(2) 
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 applicant's land is located. Such notice shall be given by serving a copy thereof on the owner as shown on the said current tax duplicate, or on his agent in charge of the property, or by mailing a copy thereof by certified mail to the property owner at his address as shown on the said current tax duplicate. 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.
(3) 
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 A(2) to the owners of lands in such adjoining municipality which are located within 200 feet of the subject premises.
(4) 
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 situate within 200 feet of a municipal boundary.
(5) 
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.
(6) 
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 Municipal Clerk pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-10b.
B. 
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.
C. 
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.
D. 
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; an identification of the property proposed for development by street address, if any, and by reference to lot and block numbers as shown on the current tax duplicate in the Municipal 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.
[Amended 10-5-1992 by Ord. No. 92-15; 2-7-1994 by Ord. No. 94-02]
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-12c, the Town Tax Assessor shall, within seven days after receipt of a request thereof and upon receipt of payment of a fee of $10 or a sum not to exceed $0.25 per name, whichever is greater, 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 § 49-17A(2).
A. 
Each decision on any application for development shall be set forth in writing as a resolution of the Board, which shall include findings of fact and legal conclusions based thereon.
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 Municipal 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 fees 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 Secretary or Clerk of the body making the decision, 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 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 the 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 municipality will be adequately protected.
Any variance hereafter granted by the Planning Board, permitting the erection or alteration of any structure or structures or permitting a specified use of any premises, shall expire by limitation unless such construction or alteration shall have been actually commenced on each and every structure permitted by said variance or unless such permitted use has actually been commenced within one year from the date of publication of the notice of the judgment or determination of the Board; except, however, that the running of the period of limitation herein provided shall be tolled from the date of filing an appeal from the decision of the Board to the governing body or to a court of competent jurisdiction until the termination in any manner of such appeal or proceeding.
[Added 8-1-1988 by Ord. No. 88-12]
A. 
In the event that the Planning Board of the Town of Belvidere deems it advisable or necessary to engage the services of professional consultants other than the Planning Board Attorney or Town Engineer to assist the Planning Board in the review and administration of a land use application or to render reports, advice and recommendations with respect thereto, the Board reviewing such land use application shall make the determination as to its intention to engage the services of such consultant and shall so advise the applicant in writing.
B. 
The Board shall obtain from such professional consultant an estimate of the cost of the services to be rendered, and the applicant shall be so advised, whereupon the applicant shall be required to post with the Secretary of the Board funds in the amount of such estimate which shall be considered a review deposit, which shall be subject to the administrative procedures established with respect to same in the Land Use Ordinances of the Town of Belvidere.
C. 
In the event that the applicant fails to pay the estimated review deposit, the application shall automatically be deemed incomplete at that point, the applicant shall be so advised in writing, and no further proceedings or action shall be taken by the Board until such additional review deposit has been paid.
D. 
Apportionment of professional consultant fees.
[Added 2-4-1991 by Ord. No. 91-1]
(1) 
The charges for services of the Board Attorney, Engineer and planning consultant for attendance at Board meetings, which are rendered in administrative review response to an applicant or application for development on the Board agenda, shall be apportioned, on a pro rata time basis, to each applicant or application appearing on the agenda of any such meeting, and the professional services vouchers rendered by each such Board professional shall be itemized and apportioned to each separate matter appearing on the agenda.
(2) 
The charges apportioned to an applicant or development application shall be charged against the review deposit escrow required to be posted by such applicant and the procedures provided for in Subsection C above, shall apply.
(3) 
Charges for professional services rendered to the Board for attendance at all regular and special meetings, or any portion thereof, and all other professional services which do not relate, directly, to an applicant or development application, shall be charged to and paid from the Town General Fund (Planning Board "Other Expenses").