A.
There is hereby established in the Township of Deerfield,
pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25c, as amended, a Land Use Board of nine
members which Board shall have the combined powers and duties of a
municipal planning board and zoning board of adjustment, and consisting
of four classes of members as delineated below:
(1)
Class I: the Mayor or the Mayor's designee in the
absence of the Mayor.
(2)
Class II: one of the officials of the Township
of the municipality other than a member of the governing body, to
be appointed by the Mayor, provided that if there be an Environmental
Commission, the member of the Environmental Commission who is also
a member of the Land Use Board as required by Section 1 of P.L. 1968,
c. 245 (N.J.S.A. 40:56A-1), shall be deemed to be the Class II Land
Use Board member if there be among the Class IV or alternate members
of the Land Use Board both a member of the Board of Education.
(3)
Class III: a member of the governing body to be appointed
by it.
(4)
Class IV: six other citizens of the Township, to be
appointed by the Mayor. The members of Class IV shall hold no other
municipal office, position or employment, except that in the case
of nine-member boards, one such member may be a member of the Historic
Commission. No member of the Board of Education may be a Class IV
member of the Land Use Board, except that in the case of a nine-member
board, one Class IV member may be a member of the Board of Education.
B.
In addition to the foregoing, alternate members may
be appointed to the Land Use Board as Class IV members, and such alternate
members shall not exceed four. Alternate members shall be appointed
by the Township Committee for Class IV members, and shall meet the
qualifications of Class IV members of nine-member Land Use Boards.
Alternate members shall be designated at the time of appointment by
the Mayor as "Alternate No. 1," "Alternate No. 2," "Alternate No.
3" and "Alternate No. 4."
A.
The term of the member composing Class I shall correspond
to the Mayor's official tenure, or, if the member is the Mayor's designee
in the absence of the Mayor, the designee shall serve at the pleasure
of the Mayor during the Mayor's official term.
B.
The terms of the members composing Class II and Class
III shall be for one year or terminate at the completion of their
respective terms of office, whichever occurs first, except for a Class
II member who is also a member of the Environmental Commission. The
term of a Class II or Class IV member who is also a member of the
Environmental Commission shall be for three years or terminate at
the completion of his term of office as a member of the Environmental
Commission, whichever occurs first.
C.
The term of a Class IV member who is also a member
of the Board of Education shall terminate whenever he is no longer
a member of such other body or at the completion of his Class IV term,
whichever occurs first. The terms all Class IV members first appointed
shall be so determined that to the greatest practicable extent the
expiration of such terms shall be distributed evenly over the first
four years after their appointments; provided that the initial Class
IV term of no member shall exceed four years. Thereafter, the Class
IV term of each such member shall be four years.
D.
Alternate members.
(1)
The terms of the alternate members shall be for two
years, except that the terms of the alternate members shall be such
that the term of not more than one alternate member shall expire in
any one year; provided, however, that in no instance shall the terms
of the alternate members first appointed exceed two years.
(2)
Alternate members may participate in discussions of
the proceedings but may not vote except in the absence or disqualification
of a regular member of any class. A vote shall not be delayed in order
that a regular member may vote instead of an alternate member. In
the event that a choice must be made as to which alternate member
is to vote, Alternate No. 1 shall vote.
If a vacancy in any class shall occur otherwise
than by expiration of the Land Use Board term, it shall be filled
by appointment, as above provided, for the unexpired term. No member
of the Land Use Board shall be permitted to act on any matter in which
he or she has, either directly or indirectly, any personal or financial
interest. Any member other than a Class I member, after a public hearing
if he or she request one, may be removed by the governing body for
cause.
A.
The Land Use Board shall elect a Chairman and Vice
Chairman from the members of Class IV, and select a Secretary, who
may or may not be a member of the Land Use Board or a municipal employee.
B.
The Chairman of the Land Use Board may appoint a Site
Plan and Subdivision Review Committee for the purpose of reviewing
all applications for preliminary subdivision and site plan approvals
and all applications for approval of use variances submitted in relation
to applications for preliminary subdivision and site plan approval,
making reports and recommendations to the Land Use Board, and performing
such other duties as may be conferred upon it by the Board. The Committee's
membership shall be composed of members of the Land Use Board, designated
professional employees of the Township, Land Use Board consultants,
and/or representatives of such other agencies as shall be designated
by the Board.
The Land Use Board may employ or contract for
and fix compensation of a Land Use Board Attorney, other than the
Township Attorney, and experts, staff personnel and other services
as it may deem necessary, not exceeding, exclusive of gifts or grants,
the amount appropriated by the governing body for its use.
The Land Use Board is authorized to adopt bylaws
governing its procedural operation and in accordance with provisions
of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., it shall also have the following powers
and duties of a Planning Board:
A.
To prepare and, after public hearing, adopt or amend
a Master Plan or component parts thereof, to guide the use lands within
the Township in a manner which protects public health and safety and
promotes the general welfare, in accordance with the provisions of
N.J.S.A. 40:55D-28.
B.
To administer provisions of all development regulations
of the municipality, including subdivision control and site plan review,
in accordance with the provisions of said regulations and the Municipal
Land Use Law of 1975, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., as amended.
C.
When reviewing applications for approval of subdivision
plats, site plans or conditional uses:
(1)
To grant:
(a)
Direction pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-34 for
issuance of a permit for a building or structure in the bed of a mapped
street or public drainageway, flood control basin or public area reserved
pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-32.
(b)
Direction pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36 for
issuance of permit for a building or structure not related to a street.
(2)
Whenever relief is requested pursuant to this subsection,
notice of a hearing on the application for development shall include
reference to the request for a variance or direction for issuance
of a permit, as the case may be.
D.
To participate in the preparation and review of programs
or plans required by state or federal law or regulation.
E.
To assemble data on a continuing basis as part of
a continuing planning process.
F.
To annually prepare a program of municipal capital
improvement projects projected over a term of six years, and amendments
thereto, and recommend same to the governing body.
G.
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25(c), the Land Use Board
shall exercise, to the same extent and subject to the same restriction,
all powers of a Zoning Board of Adjustment, including but not limited
to those powers and duties prescribed by law to a Board of Adjustment
pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70 and N.J.S.A. 40:55D-776. In exercising
the powers of the Board of Adjustment, the Class I and Class III members
of Land Use Board shall not participate in the consideration of applications
for development which involve relief pursuant to Subsection d of Section
57 of P.L. 19775, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70, as amended), including:
(1)
Hear and decide appeals where it is alleged by the
appellant that there is error in any order, requirement, decision
or refusal made by an administrative officer based on or made in the
enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance;
(2)
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the
zoning map or ordinance or for decision upon other special questions
upon which such board is authorized to pass by any Zoning or Official
Map Ordinance, in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., as amended,
or any other development regulation;
(3)
Grant variance from regulations:
(a)
Where by reason of exception 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
would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties to,
or exceptional and undue hardship upon the developer of such property,
grant, upon application or an appeal relating to such property, a
variance from such strict application of such regulation so as to
relieve such difficulties and hardship;
(b)
Where in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property the purposes of this chapter 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 said regulations; provided, however, that no variance from those departures enumerated in Subsection D of this section shall be granted under this subsection; and
(4)
In particular cases for special reasons, grant a variance
to allow departure from this chapter to permit:
(a)
A use or principal structure in a district restricted
against such use or principal structure;
(b)
An expansion of a nonconforming use;
(c)
Deviation from a specification or standard pursuant
to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67 pertaining solely to a conditional use;
(d)
An increase in the permitted floor area ratio
as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4;
(e)
An increase in the permitted density as defined
in this chapter, 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; or
(f)
A height of a principal structure which exceeds
by 10 feet or 10% the maximum height permitted in the district for
a principal structure.
(5)
A variance under this subsection shall be granted
only by affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of the full authorized
membership of this board.
(6)
In exercising the above mentioned powers the Land
Use Board, as the Board of Adjustment, may, in conformity with the
provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., or amendments thereto or
subsequent statutes applying, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly,
or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed
from and make sure other requirements, decisions or determination
as ought to be made, and to that end have all the powers of the administrative
officer from whom the appeal was taken.
H.
To consider and make report to the governing body
within 35 days after referral as to any proposed development regulation
submitted to it pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-26a,
and also pass upon other matters specifically referred to the Land
Use Board by the governing body pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A.
40:55D-26b.
I.
To carry out the provisions set forth in § 120-78 of this chapter for the preservation of historic resources.
J.
To perform such other advisory duties as are assigned
to it by ordinance or resolution of the governing body for the aid
and assistance of the governing body or other agencies and officers
of the municipality.
The Mayor may appoint one or more persons as
a Citizen's Advisory Committee to assist or collaborate with the Land
Use Board in its duties, but such person or persons shall have no
power to vote or take other action required of the Board. Such person
or persons shall serve at the pleasure of the Mayor and shall be a
citizen or citizens of the Township.
At such time that an Environmental Commission
is established and appointed in accordance with the provisions of
N.J.S.A. 40:56-1 et seq., and said Environmental Commission has prepared
and submitted to the Land Use Board an index of the natural resources
of the Township, the Land Use Board shall make available to the Environmental
Commission an informational copy of every application for development
to the Land Use Board. Failure of the Land Use Board to make such
informational copy available to the Environmental Commission shall
not invalidate any hearing or proceeding.
The Board shall adopt such rules and regulations
as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions and purposes
of this chapter. In the issuance of subpoenas, administration of oaths
and taking of testimony, the provisions of the County and Municipal
Investigation Law (N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.
No member of the Land Use Board shall act on
any matter in which he or she has, either directly or indirectly,
any personal or financial interest. Whenever any such member shall
disqualify himself or herself from acting on a particular matter,
he or she shall not continue to sit with the Board on the hearing
of such matter nor participate in any discussion or decision relating
thereto. This would include voting on a memorializing resolution relating
to the such matter and the decision thereon.
A.
Meetings of the Land Use 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 or appeals to be heard and decided.
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 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 present.
D.
All actions shall be taken by majority vote of the
members present at the meeting except as otherwise required by any
provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. Failure of a motion to receive
the number of votes required to approve an application for development
or appeal pursuant to the exceptional vote requirements of N.J.S.A.
40:55D-34 and 40:55D-67d shall be deemed an action denying the application.
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
(N.J.S.A. 40:4-6 et seq.). An executive session for the purpose of
discussion and studying matters to come before the Board shall not
be deemed regular or special meetings in accordance with the provisions
of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-9.
Minutes of every regular or special meeting
shall be kept and shall include the names of the persons appearing
and addressing the Land Use Board and of the persons appearing by
attorney, the action taken by the Land Use 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 administrative officer. Any interested party
shall have the right to compel production of the minutes for use as
evidence in any legal proceedings concerning the subject matter of
such minutes. Such interested party may be charged a reasonable fee
for reproduction of the minutes for his or her use.
Fees for services to provide copies of the minutes
or other documents or for the renderings of any service by the Land
Use 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.
