[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-16]
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.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-17]
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 meetings shall be
held on notice to the Board's 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 provisions of the Municipal Land Use Law,
N.J.S. 40:55D-1 et seq.
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, N.J.S. 10:4-6 et
seq.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-18;
New]
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 Board Secretary.
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.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-19; Ord. No. 1788-99 § 1; Ord. No. 1921-04 § 1; Ord. No. 1944-05 § 1; Ord. No. 1946-05 § 1; Ord. No. 1995-07 § 1; Ord. No. 2180-15]
b.
In addition to the application fees set forth above, the Planning
Board may charge the applicant an amount equal to the fee(s) which
the Board pays to an engineer, planner or attorney to review the development
application. If the Board determines that it is necessary to retain
the services of an engineer, planner or attorney to review the development
application, the applicant shall be required to pay an initial deposit
and such other additional deposits as may be required to offset these
special review costs incurred by the Board.
In the event any development application requires more than two hearings, or should an applicant request and be granted a special meeting date, the Planning Board shall charge the applicant the fee as stated in Chapter 16, Fees for such meeting.
d.
The initial deposit shall be held in an escrow account to the credit
of the applicant and the Clerk of the Planning Board shall be responsible
to keep records to determine the special review costs attributable
to each application. The Clerk of the Planning Board shall, from time
to time, charge such special review costs against the escrow account
of each applicant. In the event it is determined that the initial
deposit is insufficient to cover such costs, the applicant shall deposit
additional funds to the account as determined by the Planning Board.
The Planning Board shall not be required to process the application
or take further action upon an application until such additional deposits
are made by the applicant. Any excess funds remaining after review
of the application shall be returned to the applicant.
e.
At the time of the filing of the development application, the Planning
Board shall have the applicant sign an agreement consenting to pay
both the application fee and the special review costs incurred by
the Board. The agreement shall specifically state that in the event
the fees imposed by the Planning Board are not paid, any development
approvals granted by the Planning Board shall be considered null and
void. In the event that additional deposits requested by the Planning
Board remain unpaid for a period of 60 days, the development application
shall be deemed to be withdrawn and shall be dismissed without prejudice.
f.
The Planning Board shall have the authority to waive fees or special
review charges of any development applications made by bona fide charitable,
eleemosynary, educational, cultural or other organizations or associations
which are operated on a nonprofit basis. The production of a certified
copy of a certificate of incorporation, issued pursuant to Title 15
of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey, shall be presumptive evidence
that the applicant is a nonprofit entity.
g.
Tax Map Maintenance Fee.
1.
The fees as stated in Chapter 16, Fees, shall be paid by the applicant at the time of filing a development application:
2.
In the event that a development application is denied and the application
is no longer pending before the Planning Board, then any portion of
this fee which has not been expended for maintaining the municipal
tax map shall be refunded to the applicant.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-20]
a.
Rules. The Planning Board may make rules governing the conduct of
hearings before such body, which rules shall not be inconsistent with
the provisions of the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S. 40:55D-1 et seq.,
or the provisions 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,
N.J.S. 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. The Board shall provide for the verbatim recording of the
proceedings by either stenographer or 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.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-21]
Whenever a hearing is required on an application for development
pursuant to N.J.S. 40:55D-1 et seq., the applicant shall give notice
thereof in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S. 40:55D-12.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-22; Ord. No. 2180-15]
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S. 40:55D-12, the Municipal Tax Assessor shall, within seven days after receipt of a request therefor and upon payment of a fee as stated in Chapter 16, Fees, make and certify a list from the current tax duplicate of the names and addresses of owners to whom an applicant is required to give notice pursuant to this chapter.
The applicant shall be entitled to rely on the validity of this
list for a period of 120 days. Thereafter, the applicant shall be
responsible to determine if any changes in ownership have occurred
which affect the validity of the list of property owners furnished
by the Municipal Tax Assessor.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-23]
a.
Each decision on any application for development shall be set forth
in writing as a resolution of the Board, which resolution 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, 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 those established for copies of other public
documents in the municipality.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-24]
A brief notice of every final decision shall be published in
the official newspaper of the municipality. The publication shall
be arranged by the Secretary of the Planning Board, without separate
charge to the applicant. The notice shall be sent to the official
newspaper for publication within 10 days of the date of any such decision.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-25]
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S. 40:55D-39 and N.J.S. 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.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-26]
Any variance granted by the Planning Board pursuant to N.J.S.
40:55D-70d shall expire by limitation, unless such construction, alteration
or use shall have been actually commenced on each and every structure
permitted by the variance or unless such use has actually been commenced
within nine months 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. Any construction commenced
within the nine-month period provided for in this section shall be
completed within 18 months of the date of entry of the judgment of
the Planning Board; except, however, that the running of the period
of limitation shall be tolled from the date of the filing of the 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.
The Planning Board shall have the authority to extend the above
provisions for one additional nine-month period upon a developer making
application for such extension and paying an extension fee equal to
fees established under this chapter.
