[Amended 12-14-1994 by Ord. No. 94:17; 12-13-2000 by Ord. No.
2000:17]
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25(C)(1), the Planning Board hereafter shall exercise all the powers of a Zoning Board of Adjustment in accordance with § 162-8(j) above. The Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby disestablished, and shall no longer be deemed established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69 et seq. after January 1, 2001.
A.
All powers formerly exercised by the Zoning Board of Adjustment and otherwise lawfully allowed by the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.) to be exercised by a Zoning Board of Adjustment shall henceforth be exercised by the Planning Board in accordance with § 162-8(j) above, except that the Class I and Class III members shall not participate in the consideration of applications for development which involve relief pursuant to Subsection d. of section 57 of P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70).
B.
The powers of the Planning Board shall hereafter include the former powers of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and shall otherwise be in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69 et seq. and amendments and supplements thereto, with the provisions of this Part 1, and all such other duties and such other powers as may be conferred upon it by Chapter 291, Laws of New Jersey 1975.
C.
It is further the intent of this Part 1 to confer upon the Planning
Board, in lieu of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the full and complete
powers as may lawfully be conferred upon such Board, including, not
by way of limitation, the authority, in connection with any case,
action or proceedings before the Board, to interpret and construe
the provisions of this Part 1 or any term, clause, sentence or word
thereof and the Zoning Map, in accordance with the general rules of
construction applicable to legislative enactments.
D.
The Planning Board may, in appropriate cases and subject to appropriate
conditions and safeguards, grant variances from the terms of this
Part 1 in accordance with the general or specific rules contained
herein and when strict construction of the provisions of this Part
1 would work undue hardship. The powers and duties of the Board having
been delegated to and imposed upon it by statute, the Board shall
in all cases follow the provisions applicable to it in said P.L. 1975,
c. 291, or subsequent statutes in such case made and provided, and
it shall from time to time furnish to any persons requesting the same
a copy of its rules and regulations and information as to how appeals
or applications may be properly filed with the Board for it decision
thereon.
A.
Appeals to the Planning Board, in lieu of appeals to the Zoning Board
of Adjustment, may be taken by any interested party affected by any
decision of the administrative officer of the municipality based on
or made in the enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance or Official Map.
Each appeal shall be taken within 20 days by filing a notice of appeal
with the officer from whom the appeal was taken, together with three
copies of said notice with the Secretary of the Planning Board. Said
notice of appeal shall specify the grounds for said appeal. The officer
from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the Board
all the papers constituting the records upon which the action appealed
from was taken.
B.
Applications addressed to the original jurisdiction of the Planning
Board in lieu of the Zoning Board of Adjustment without prior application
to the Construction Code Official shall be filed with the Secretary
of the Planning Board. Three copies of the application shall be filed.
At the time of filing the appeal or application, but in no event less
than 10 days prior to the date set for hearing, the applicant shall
also file all plot plans, maps or other papers required by virtue
of any provisions of this Part 1 or any rule of the Planning Board.
The applicant shall obtain all necessary forms from the Secretary
of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Secretary of the Board shall
inform the applicant of the steps to be taken to initiate proceedings
and of the regular meeting dates of the Board.
C.
An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action in respect
of which the decision appealed from was made, unless the officer from
whom the appeal is taken certifies to the Planning Board after the
notice of appeal shall have been filed with him that, by reason of
facts stated in the certificate, a stay would, in his opinion, cause
imminent peril to life or property. In such case, proceedings shall
not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order, which may be
granted by the Planning Board or by the Superior Court of New Jersey
on application or notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken
and on due cause shown.
In exercising the above-mentioned power, the Planning Board
may, in conformity with the provisions of P.L. 1975, c. 291, or amendments
thereto or subsequent statutes applying,[1] reverse or affirm wholly or partly or may modify the order,
requirement, decision or determination as ought to be made and to
that end shall have all the powers of the administrative officer from
whom the appeal was taken.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
Any variance from the terms of this Part 1 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 entry of the judgment or determination
of the Planning 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 Planning Board to the governing
body or to a court of competent jurisdiction until the termination
in any manner of such appeal or proceeding.
A.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall have the power to:
(2)
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map or
Ordinance or for decisions upon other special questions upon which
such the Planning Board is authorized to pass by any Zoning or Official
Map Ordinance in accordance with this Part 1.
(3)
Where:
(a)
By reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of
a specific piece of property or by reason of exceptional topographic
conditions or physical features uniquely affecting a specific piece
of property or by reason of an extraordinary and exceptional situation
uniquely affecting a specific piece of property or the structures
lawfully existing thereon, the strict application of any regulation
pursuant to the Zoning Ordinance would result in peculiar and exceptional
practical difficulties to or exceptional and undue hardship upon the
developer of such property, grant, upon an application or an appeal
relating to such property, a variance from such strict application
of such regulation so as to relieve such difficulties or hardship.
(b)
In an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property, the purposes of the Zoning Ordinance 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 the regulations set forth in the Zoning Ordinance; provided, however, that no variance from those departures enumerated in Subsection A(4) of this section shall be granted under this subsection, and provided further that the proposed development does not require approval by the Planning Board of a subdivision, site plan or conditional use in conjunction with which the Planning Board has power to review a request for a variance pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-60a.
(4)
In particular cases and for special reasons, grant a variance to
allow departure from the regulations of the Zoning Ordinance or this
act to permit a use or principal structure in a district restricted
against such use or principal structure, an expansion of a nonconforming
use, deviation from a specification or standard pursuant to N.J.S.A.
40:55D-67 pertaining solely to a conditional use or an increase in
the permitted floor area ratio as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4, except
as applied to the required lot area for a lot or lots for detached
one- or two-dwelling-unit buildings, which lot or lots are either
an isolated undersized lot or lots resulting from a minor subdivision.
A variance under this subsection shall be granted only by affirmative
vote of at least five members. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25(C)(1),
the Planning Board may exercise this power, but the Class I and Class
III members shall not participate in the consideration of such applications.
B.
No variance or other relief may be granted under the terms 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 the purpose of the Zone Plan and Zoning Ordinance.
In respect of any airport hazard areas delineated under the Air Safety
and Hazardous Zoning Act of 1983 (N.J.S.A. 6:1-80 et seq.), no variance
or other relief may be granted under the terms of this section permitting
the creation or establishment of a nonconforming use which would be
prohibited under the standards promulgated pursuant to that act except
upon issuance of a permit by the Commissioner of Transportation. An
application under this section may be referred to any appropriate
person or agency for its report, provided that such reference shall
not extend the period of time within which the Planning Board shall
act.
The Planning Board, in lieu of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, shall, in addition to the powers specified in § 162-25 of this Part 1, have power given by law to:
A.
Direct the issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-34 for
a building or structure in the bed of a mapped street or public drainageway,
flood-control basin or public area reserved on the Official Map.
B.
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:44D-36 for a
building or structure not related to a street.
A.
The Planning Board, in lieu of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, shall
render its decision not later than 120 days after the date:
B.
Failure of the Planning 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.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-37 et seq.
Any application which is denied by the Planning Board, in lieu
of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, shall not be again considered by
the Board, except as provided herein and pursuant to Chapter 291 of
the Laws of New Jersey 1975,[1] until two years' time lapses from the date of the Board's
resolution of denial.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
