[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of
Paramus 9-12-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-21. Amendments noted where applicable.]
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:48-1 and N.J.S.A. 40:49-2, the Borough
of Paramus hereby updates its ordinances governing the application
for and issuance of permits for the construction and/or alteration
of premises located within the Borough.
All prior ordinances that are inconsistent with this chapter
shall be and hereby are repealed. All ordinances are hereby amended
to be consistent with this chapter and all ordinances, including this
one, shall be construed consistent with the express purpose of this
chapter.
As used in this chapter and elsewhere in this title, the following
words, terms or phrases shall have the following meanings ascribed
in this section unless the context or subject matter requires otherwise:
A.
BUILDING CODE — The State of New Jersey Uniform Construction
Code, N.J.A.C. 5:23-1,1 et seq., as the same is adopted and may be
amended from time-to-time by the Commissioner of the Department of
Community Affairs, State of New Jersey.
B.
BUILDING DEPARTMENT — The Paramus Building Construction Enforcing Agency established pursuant to Chapter 203 of the Paramus Code.
C.
ACCEPTANCE OR ACCEPTED — In reference to construction documents,
the endorsement by the Building Department of construction documents
with less than full examination by the Building Department based on
the professional certification of a registered design professional
in accordance with a program established by the Construction Official.
D.
APPROVAL OR APPROVED — In reference to construction documents,
the determination by the Construction Official after full examination
that submitted construction documents comply with the code and other
applicable laws and rules. In reference to materials, the determination
by the Construction Official that material is acceptable for its intended
use.
E.
APPROVED REGISTERED DESIGN PROFESSIONAL — A registered design professional that is approved by the Construction Official pursuant to and as directed by this chapter of the Paramus Code as qualified to certify as to construction documents to the Building Department pursuant to Section 181-4A below and/or to perform one or more of the inspections required by the Building Code, the Paramus Code, the rules of the Building Department and/or any other applicable laws, regulations or rules.
F.
ARCHITECT — A person licensed and registered to practice the
profession of architecture under the laws of the State of New Jersey.
G.
CONSTRUCTION OFFICIAL — The Construction Official appointed by the Mayor and Council of the Borough pursuant to Chapter 203 of the Borough Code.
H.
CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS — Plans and specifications and other
written graphic and pictorial documents, prepared or assembled for
describing the design, location, physical characteristics, and other
elements of the project necessary for obtaining a permit authorizing
the construction or alteration of a premises.
I.
ENGINEER — A person licensed and registered to practice the
profession of engineering under the laws of the State of New Jersey.
J.
LAND SURVEYOR — A person licensed and registered to practice
the profession of land surveying under the laws of the State of New
Jersey.
K.
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT — A person licensed and registered to practice
the profession of landscape architecture under the laws of the State
of New Jersey.
L.
OWNER — Any person, agent, firm, partnership, corporation or
other legal entity having a legal and/or equitable interest in, and/or
control of the premises.
M.
PERSON — An individual, partnership, corporation or other legal
entity.
N.
PREMISES — Land, improvements thereon, or any part thereof.
O.
PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATION — A personal verification of a registered
design professional made under such professional's signature
and seal that accompanies construction documents and other related
documents filed with the Building Department and that attests that
such documents do not contain false information and are in compliance
with all applicable provisions of law.
P.
REGISTERED DESIGN PROFESSIONAL — An architect or engineer.
Q.
REGISTERED DESIGN PROFESSIONAL OF RECORD — The registered design
provisional who prepared or supervised the preparation of applicable
construction documents filed with the Building Department.
R.
SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS — Completed application forms, construction
documents, reports and any other documents submitted in compliance
with the code or other applicable laws and rules including but not
limited to special inspection reports, certifications or approvals
from other governmental agencies and other data required by the Building
Code or by the Building Department.
A.
General. The Construction Official shall not issue a permit authorizing
the construction and/or alteration of a premises pursuant to this
chapter of the Borough Code unless and until it approves all required
construction documents for such proposed work.
Construction documents, and any and all related documents, may
be accepted by the Building Department with less than full examination
by the Building Department based on the professional certification
of an applicant who is a registered design professional.
B.
Effect of acceptance. Except as otherwise specified in the Paramus
Code or in the rules of the Building Department, for the purposes
of this chapter of the Paramus Code, the acceptance of construction
documents and other related documents in accordance with such program
shall have the same force and effect as the approval of construction
documents and other related documents after full examination by the
Building Department. Except as otherwise specified in this code or
in the rules of the Building Department, references in this code to
approved construction documents and/or other related documents or
to the approval of construction documents and/or other related documents
shall also be deemed to refer to accepted construction documents and
other related documents or to the acceptance of construction documents
and other related documents, as applicable.
C.
Applicant. The applicant for approval of construction documents shall
be the registered design professional who prepared or supervised the
preparation of the construction documents on behalf of the owner.
D.
Applicant statements. The application for approval of construction
documents shall contain the following signed and sealed statements
by the applicant.
(1)
A statement certifying that the applicant is authorized by the owner
to make the application and certifying that, to the best of the applicant's
knowledge and belief, the construction documents comply with the provisions
of the Building Code and other applicable laws and rules; if there
exist practical difficulties in the way of carrying out the strict
letter of the Building Code, laws or rule, the applicant shall set
forth the nature of such difficulties in such signed statement; and
(2)
A professional certification.
E.
Owner statement. The application shall contain a signed statement
by the owner affirming that the applicant is authorized to make the
application and, if applicable, acknowledging that construction documents
and other related documents will be accepted with less than full examination
by the Building Department based on the professional certification
of the applicant. Such statement shall list the owner's full
legal name and address, as well as the full legal names and addresses
of the principal officers, members, partners or other principals if
a corporation, partnership or other entity. Principal officers of
a corporation shall be deemed to include the president, vice presidents,
secretary and treasurer.
F.
Information of applicant, filing representative and owners. The application
shall set forth the full legal names, addresses, telephone numbers
and where available, electronic mail addresses of the following persons
and where any of such persons are corporations, partnerships or other
business entities, the full legal names and addresses of the principal
officers, partners, members or other principals of such entity.
A.
General. It shall be unlawful to construct, enlarge, alter, repair,
move, demolish, remove or change the use or occupancy of any building
or structure in the Borough, to change the use or occupancy of an
open lot or portion thereof, or to erect, install, alter, repair,
or use or operate any sign or service equipment in or in connection
therewith, or to erect, install, alter, repair, remove, convert or
replace any gas, mechanical, pluming, fire suppression or fire protection
system in or in connection therewith or to cause any such work to
be done unless and until a written permit therefor shall have been
issued by the construction Official in accordance with the requirements
of the Code.
B.
Application for permit. All applications for permits shall be submitted
on forms prescribed by the Building Code, the rules of the Building
Department and/or any other applicable laws, regulations or rules.
C.
Compliance with Building Code. Permits shall be deemed to incorporate
the provisions that the applicant, the owner, their agents, employees,
and contractors shall carry out the permitted work in accordance with
the provisions of the Building Code, this chapter of the Paramus Code
and other applicable laws, regulations or rules, whether specified
or not, except as variations have been legally permitted or authorized.
A.
General. An approved registered design professional shall satisfy
the provisions of this chapter of the Paramus Code and the rules of
the Building Department as to operations.
B.
Qualification process. An architect or engineer seeking to be approved
by the Construction Official as an approved registered design professional
shall submit such a request in writing to the Building Department
together with confirmation that the applicant meets the following
qualifications for such approval:
(1)
Licensed by the State of New Jersey as an architect or engineer at
the time of application, including submission of a certificate of
good standing issued by the State of New Jersey not more than 30 days
prior to the time of application.
(2)
At least 10 years' experience as an architect or engineer; and
(3)
Proof of insurance coverage as required by this chapter of the Paramus
Code.
The Construction Official may approve an architect or engineer
with less than 10 years' experience (but not less than five years'
experience) upon a finding by the Construction Official of an applicant's
exceptional qualification in the subject field. The Construction Official
shall not waive, or allow any deviation from, any other qualification
an applicant must satisfy for designation as an approved registered
design professional. The Construction Official may suspend or revoke
an approved registered design professional or otherwise sanction an
approved registered design professional for cause.
C.
Independent. An approved registered design professional shall perform
its authorized duties objectively and competently. An approved registered
design professional shall disclose to the Construction Official possible
conflicts of interest so that objectivity can be confirmed.
D.
Written evaluation by approved registered design professional. An
approved registered design professional's evaluation of material
or report of an inspection shall be in writing which is required to
be submitted to the Construction Official after satisfactory completion
of the required inspection or test.
E.
Records. An approved registered design professional shall maintain
records of inspection(s) and test report(s) for a period of not less
than six years following the date of the completion of the subject
inspection(s) or test(s) or for such other period of time as the Construction
Official shall determine to be appropriate and acceptable. An approved
registered design professional shall make such records available to
the Building Department upon request.
F.
Insurance. An approved registered design professional shall not be
deemed an employee of the Borough, but rather shall be an independent
contractor whose actions and work shall not be considered as that
of the Borough. In this regard, an approved registered design professional
shall present separate evidence that it maintains in full force and
effect with insurance carriers that are acceptable to the Borough
the following policies of insurance at all times during the term of
its status as an approved registered design professional:
(1)
Workers Compensation Insurance in accordance with the provisions
of the Workers' Compensation Law of the State of New Jersey,
for each employee engaged to work on any project in the Borough;
(2)
Comprehensive General Liability Insurance, with a combined single
limit of at least $2,000,000.00; and
(3)
Professional Liability Insurance with a combined single limit of
at least $5,000,000.00.
A.
General. Any work for which a permit is required shall be subject
to inspection(s) in accordance with the Building Code, this chapter
of the Paramus Code and other relevant laws, regulations and rules,
and such work shall remain accessible and exposed for inspection purposes
until the required inspection(s) has been deemed fully completed.
A satisfactory inspection by the Building Department or the acceptance
by the Building Department of a satisfactory report of an inspection
by an approved registered design professional shall not be construed
to be an approval by the Building Department of a violation of the
provisions of the Building Code, this code or of any other provision
of law. It shall be the duty of the permit holder to cause the work
to remain accessible and exposed for inspection purposes. The permit
holder shall be liable for any expense entailed in the removal or
replacement of any material required to allow inspection.
B.
Defective work and discrepancies with approved construction documents.
An approved registered design professional conducting inspections
shall report defective work and discrepancies with the approved construction
documents to the contractor and, when applicable, to the Construction
Official, for correction. The approved registered design professional
shall report uncorrected discrepancies and defective work to the Construction
Official and the registered design professional of record.
C.
Hazardous conditions. The approved registered design professional
shall report all conditions noted as hazardous to life, safety or
health that are not immediately corrected to the immediate attention
of the Construction Official.
D.
Special inspections, progress inspections and other inspections required
during the progress of work. After the issuance of a permit, special
inspections, progress inspections and other inspections required by
the Building Code to be made during states of the work and in such
manner as shall be provided by the Building Code or as otherwise required
by the Construction Official. The permit application shall set forth
an inspection program for the work. Such inspections may be made by
an approved registered design professional or by the Building Department
as provided in the Building Code, in this ordinance or in the rules
of the Building Department. The Construction Official shall accept
inspection and test reports from an approved registered design professional
and the work may, unless otherwise specifically provided by the code
provisions or directed by the Construction Official, proceed without
any verifying inspection or test by the Building Department. The names
and business addresses of special inspectors and any approved registered
design professional shall be set forth in the work permit application.
All inspection reports shall be in writing and signed by the person
or entity performing the inspection. A record of all inspections shall
be kept by the person performing the inspection. The Construction
Official may require inspection reports to be filed with the Building
Department. Records of inspections made by an approved registered
design professional and/or special inspectors shall be maintained
by such persons for a period of not less than six years after sign-off
of the work or for such other period of time as the Construction Official
may require and shall be made available to the Building Department
upon request.
E.
Final inspection prior to issuance of certificate of occupancy. In
all cases where the permitted work requires the issuance of a new
or amended certificate of occupancy, the final inspection shall be
performed by the Construction Official or the registered design professional
of record. Such inspection shall be performed after all work authorized
by the subject permit is completed and before the issuance of the
certificate of occupancy. All failures to comply with the provisions
of the Building Code and/or approved construction documents shall
be noted and the owner promptly notified thereof in writing. All defects
noted in such inspection shall be corrected. Reports of such final
inspections shall be maintained by the Building Department. The final
inspection report shall confirm that defects noted have been corrected,
that the work is in substantial compliance with the approved construction
documents and with the Building Code, this chapter, the rules of the
Building Department and with other applicable laws and rules and that
all required inspections were performed.
Upon application, the Construction Official is authorized to
issue a temporary certificate of occupancy before the completion of
the entire work covered by the permit, provided that the subject portion
or portions of the building may be occupied and maintained in a manner
that will not endanger public safety, health, or welfare.
