[Amended 10-10-1978 by Ord. No. 78-11; 11-13-1984 by Ord. No. 84-12; 6-12-1990 by Ord. No. 90-6; 12-10-2013 by Ord. No. 13-20]
Pursuant to P.L. 1975 c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.), the Land Use Board, consisting of nine members, is hereby established. The Land Use Board shall exercise, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions, all of the powers of a Planning Board and a Zoning Board of Adjustment as set forth in the Municipal Land Use Law (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.). All applications for development and all powers granted to the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1, et seq. are hereby granted to the Land Use Board. All authority previously granted to the Planning Board and/or the Board of Adjustment by the Code of the Town of Clinton and any ordinance shall now be vested in the Land Use Board. Any reference to the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Adjustment in any existing Town of Clinton ordinance shall be deemed to refer to the Land Use Board. The Land Use Board shall consist of four classes of members as follows:
A. 
Class I: the Mayor, or the Mayor’s designee on the absence of the Mayor.
B. 
Class II: one of the officials of the Town of Clinton, other than a member of the governing body, to be appointed by the Mayor, provided that 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 for the purposes of this chapter in the event that there are among the Class IV members of the Land Use Board both a member of the Board of Education.
C. 
Class III: a member of the governing body, to be appointed by it.
D. 
Class IV: six other citizens of the municipality, to be appointed by the Mayor. The members of Class IV shall hold no other municipal office, position or employment, except that one member may be a member of the Board of Education. 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 a Class IV Land Use Board member, unless there are among the Class IV members of the Land Use Board a member of the Board of Education, in which case the member common to the Land Use Board and Environmental Commission shall be deemed a Class II member of the Land Use Board.
E. 
Alternate members: There shall be appointed by the Mayor two alternate Class IV members of the Land Use Board, who shall serve in rotation during the absence or disqualification of any regular member or members of Class IV. Said alternate members shall serve for terms of two years; provided, however, that the initial terms of such members shall be for one and two years respectively. Said alternate members shall be designated by the Chairman of the Land Use Board as "Alternate No. 1" and "Alternate No. 2."
The term of the member composing Class I shall correspond to his/her official tenure. 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/her term of office as a member of the Environmental Commission, whichever occurs first. The term of a Class IV member who is also a member of the Board of Education shall terminate whenever he/she is no longer a member of such other body or at the completion of his/her Class IV term, whichever occurs first. The terms of all Class IV members first appointed under this chapter 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 appointment, 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. All terms shall run from January 1 of the year in which the appointment was made.
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 has, either directly or indirectly, any personal or financial interest. Any member other than a Class I member, after a public hearing if he requests one, may be removed by the governing body for cause.
When any hearing before a Land Use Board shall carry over two or more meetings, a member of the Board who was absent for one or more of the meetings shall be eligible to vote on the matter upon which the hearing was conducted, notwithstanding his absence from one or more of the meetings; provided, however, that such Board member has available to him a transcript or recording of the meeting from which he was absent and certifies in writing to the Board that he has read such transcript or listened to such recording.
The Land Use Board is authorized to adopt bylaws and such other rules and regulations governing its procedural operation, which bylaws, rules and regulations shall be consistent with the provisions of this chapter and P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.). The Land Use Board shall elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman from the members of Class IV, select a Secretary, who may or may not be a member of the Land Use Board or a municipal employee, and create and fill such other offices as established by ordinance.
There is hereby created the office of Land Use Board Attorney. The Land Use Board may annually appoint and fix the compensation of or agree upon the rate of compensation of the Land Use Board Attorney, who shall be an attorney other than the Municipal Attorney.
The Land Use Board may also employ or contract for the services of experts and other staff and services as it may deem necessary. The Board shall not, however, exceed, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount appropriated by the governing body for its use.
The Land Use Board shall be governed by and shall have such powers as are conferred upon it by P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.). More specifically, the Land Use Board shall have authority to:
A. 
Prepare, adopt and from time to time amend or revise a Master Plan.
B. 
Exercise control over the review of subdivisions and site plans in accordance with Article VI of this chapter.
C. 
Exercise control over the granting of applications for conditional uses.
D. 
Whenever the proposed development requires approval of a subdivision, site plan or conditional use (but not a variance pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d), grant to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Land Use Board:
(1) 
By majority vote, a variance from the strict application of the zoning provisions of this chapter where, 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 in the zoning provisions of this chapter would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties to, or exceptional and undue hardship upon the developer of such property; where in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property, the purposes of the Municipal Land Use Law would be advanced by a deviation from the zoning provisions of this chapter and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment. No variance under this Subsection D(1) shall be granted, however, from those departures enumerated in N.J.S.A. 49:55D-70d.
(2) 
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 on an Official Map.
(3) 
Direction, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36, for issuance of a permit for a building or structure not related to a street.
E. 
Exercise such other duties as may be assigned to it by ordinance or resolution of the governing body and perform such other functions as may be authorized by P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.), and other state statutes and administrative regulations.
A. 
Prior to the adoption of a development regulation or a revision or amendment thereto, the Land Use Board shall make and transmit to the governing body, within 35 days after referral, a report including recommendations concerning the proposed development regulation, revision or amendment. The governing body, when considering the adoption of a development regulation or a revision or amendment thereto, shall review the report of the Land Use Board and may disapprove or change any recommendation by a vote of a majority of its full authorized membership and shall record in its minutes the reasons for not following such recommendations. Failure of the Land Use Board to transmit its report within the thirty-five-day period provided herein shall relieve the governing body from the requirements of this subsection in regard to the proposed development regulation, revision or amendment thereto referred to the Land Use Board.
B. 
The governing body may by ordinance provide for the reference of any matter or class of matters to the Land Use Board before final action thereon by a municipal body or municipal officer having final authority thereon. Such reference shall not extend the time for action by the referring body, whether or not the Land Use Board has submitted its report. Whenever the Land Use Board shall have made a recommendation regarding a matter authorized by this chapter to another municipal body, such recommendation may be rejected only by a majority of the full authorized membership of such other body.
Whenever an application for approval of a subdivision plat, site plan or conditional use includes a request for relief pursuant to § 88-21D of this chapter, the Land Use Board shall grant or deny approval of the application within 120 days after the submission by a developer of a complete application to the administrative officer or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Failure of the Land Use Board to act within the period prescribed shall constitute approval of the application, and a certificate of the administrative officer as to the failure of the Land Use Board to act shall be issued on request of the applicant, and it shall be sufficient in lieu of the written endorsement or other evidence of approval herein required and shall be so accepted by the county recording officer for purposes of filing subdivision plats.
The Land Use Board shall have the power to review and approve or deny conditional uses or site plans simultaneously with review for subdivision approval without the developer being required to make further application to the Land Use Board or the Land Use Board being required to hold further hearings. The longest time period for action by the Land Use Board, whether it is for subdivision, conditional use or site plan approval, shall apply; except that where the developer elects to submit separate consecutive applications, the appropriate time periods prescribed by N.J.S.A. 40:55D-61 shall apply. Whenever approval of a conditional use is requested by the developer pursuant to this section, notice of the hearing on the plat shall include reference to the request for such conditional use.
After the appointment of a Land Use Board, the Mayor may appoint one or more persons as a Citizens' 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.
Whenever an Environmental Commission has prepared and submitted to the Land Use Board an index of the natural resources of the municipality, the Land Use Board shall make available to the Environmental Commission an informational copy of every application for development submitted 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 proceedings.
Whenever the Land Use Board shall have adopted any portion of the Master Plan, the governing body or other public agency having jurisdiction over the subject matter, before taking action necessitating the expenditure of any public funds, incidental to the location, character or extent of such project, shall refer the action involving such specific project to the Land Use Board for review and recommendation in conjunction with such Master Plan and shall not act thereon without such recommendation or until 45 days have elapsed after such reference without receiving such recommendation. This requirement shall apply to action by a housing, parking, highway, special district or other authority, redevelopment agency, school board or other similar public agency, state, county or municipal.