[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Carteret
10-27-1994 as Ord. No. 94-47. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The Mayor and Council of the Borough of Carteret hereby elect, in accord
with N.J.S.A. 40:52-9 et seq., to license rooming and boarding houses within
the Borough of Carteret and by copy of this chapter hereby notify the Commissioner
of the Department of Community Affairs or his designee of said determination.
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings
indicated:
The Mayor and Council of the Borough of Carteret.
Any person, corporation or association of persons and any agency
or instrumentality of state or local government which operates or proposes
to operate a rooming or boarding house.
The holder of title in fee simple to premises and any lessor or sublessor
of whom an operator is or proposes to become a sublessor in connection with
an application for a license or for renewal thereof.
The most recent population count reported by the Department of Labor.
A rooming or boarding house licensed pursuant to P.L. 1979, c. 496
(N.J.S.A. 55:13B-1 et seq.).
A.
Application for a license shall be made by the owner
to the appropriate licensing authority. The application shall be in such form
and shall contain such information and declarations and be accompanied by
such application fee, not exceeding two hundred dollars ($200.), as may be
prescribed by resolution of the licensing authority and shall be filed with
the Municipal Clerk. The form of application prescribed by the licensing authority
shall require the submission of such information and supporting documentation
as provide a basis upon which the licensing authority may conduct the investigation
and reach the conclusions required for the issuance or denial of a license.
To the extent that the form of application requires the furnishing of information
by the operator, it shall be the responsibility of the applicant owner to
obtain such information and to exercise due care and diligence to assure its
completeness and accuracy. The licensing authority may require that information
required from the operator be duly sworn to by the operator in order to form
a valid part of the application.
B.
An application filed pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall include a deposit in full of the prescribed application fee, of which ninety percent (90%) shall be refunded if the application is denied and ten percent (10%) retained and employed in defraying the expenses of the licensing authority in carrying out its functions under this chapter.
C.
All applications by a natural person, partnership or
unincorporated association of natural persons shall be duly sworn to by each
of the applicants. An application by a corporation shall be duly sworn to
by the President or Vice President of the corporation. All statements in an
application shall be deemed material, and any person who knowingly misstates
any material fact therein shall be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.
D.
Every applicant for a license shall, after filing the application, cause notice of the pendency of the application to be published, in a form prescribed by the licensing authority, once a week for two (2) weeks successively in a newspaper, printed in the English language, published and circulated in the county in which the premises for which the license or renewal thereof are located. The notice shall include the time and place of the public hearing prescribed in § 204-5 of this chapter, and the second publication thereof shall be made not less than one (1) week nor more than two (2) weeks prior to the date set by the licensing authority for that hearing. An affidavit of publication of said notice shall be submitted at the time of the hearing.
It shall be the duty of the licensing authority to receive applications made pursuant to § 204-3 and to conduct such investigations as may be necessary to establish:
A.
With respect to the premises for which a license is sought:
(1)
That it is in compliance with all applicable building,
housing, health and safety codes and regulations.
(2)
That the location of the premises will not, in conjunction
with the proximity of other rooming and boarding houses, lead to an excessive
concentration of such facilities in the municipality or a particular section
thereof.
B.
With respect to the owner or owners of the premises:
(1)
If a natural person or persons, that he or they are twenty-one
(21) years of age or older, citizens of the United States and residents of
the State of New Jersey and never convicted, in this state or elsewhere, of
a crime involving moral turpitude or of any crime under any law of this state
licensing or regulating a rooming or boarding house and have never had a license
required pursuant to P.L. 1979, c. 496 (N.J.S.A. 55:13B-1 et seq.) revoked.
(2)
If a corporation, that all officers and members of the
Board of Directors and every stockholder holding ten percent (10%) or more
of the stock of the corporation, directly or indirectly having a beneficial
interest therein, have the same qualifications as set forth in this subsection
for an applicant who is a natural person.
C.
With respect to the operator or proposed operator, that
he meets the requirements for licensure by the Department of Community Affairs.
D.
That the owner and operator, either individually or jointly,
have established sufficient guarantee of financial and other responsibility
to assure appropriate relocation of the residents of the rooming or boarding
house to suitable facilities in the event that the license is subsequently
revoked or its renewal denied. The Department of Community Affairs shall determine,
in the case of each type of rooming and boarding house under its jurisdiction,
what constitutes suitable facilities for this purpose.
A.
In conducting its investigations pursuant to § 204-4, the licensing authority shall hold a public hearing at which the applicant, the operator or proposed operator and all other parties in interest, including members of the general public, shall be entitled to be heard upon the merits of the application and the suitability of the premises proposed for licensing. The time and place of the public hearing shall be determined within thirty (30) days of receipt of the application and shall be communicated to the applicant in sufficient time to enable compliance with the publication requirement under § 204-3 hereof.
B.
No license shall be issued which would result in increasing
the total number of persons authorized to be residents in rooming or boarding
houses within the municipality to more than one hundred (100) in the borough
if the population is twenty thousand (20,000) or fewer or to more than one-half
of one percent (1/2 of 1%) of the population if the same exceeds twenty thousand
(20,000); but nothing in this subsection shall warrant refusal of a license
or license renewal for premises where a rooming or boarding house has been
in lawful operation prior to the enactment of this chapter.
C.
No license shall be issued for premises when any part
of the boundary line of the premises is within one thousand (1,000) feet of
the boundary line of any other premises for which a license is in force, but
nothing in this subsection shall warrant refusal of a license or license renewal
for premises where a rooming or boarding house has been in lawful operation
prior to the enactment of this chapter.
A.
After the public hearing pursuant to § 204-5 of this chapter, the licensing authority shall determine, in accordance with the provisions hereof, whether to grant the license. A license when issued shall be valid for one (1) year from the date of issuance and until such time as the licensing authority has acted upon an application for renewal, unless sooner terminated by revocation pursuant to the terms of this chapter.
B.
Not later than the 60th day preceding the anniversary
date of issuance, the licensee shall make application to the licensing authority
for its renewal. Application for a renewal shall follow the same procedure
and requirements as prescribed for a new application and shall necessitate
de novo consideration and determination by the licensing authority in the
same manner as a new application.
A.
The licensing authority may revoke a license granted
under this chapter for any of the following reasons:
(1)
A finding that there was any misstatement of material
fact in the application upon which the license was issued.
(2)
The occurrence of any fact which, had it occurred and
been known to the licensing authority before issuance of the license, would
have resulted in the denial of the application.
(3)
Repeated violations or prolonged failure to correct any
violation of any applicable building, housing, health or safety code or regulations.
(4)
Refusal to allow access to any portion of the licensed
premises at all reasonable times, with or without advance notice, in order
that officers or agents of the licensing authority or any official charged
with enforcement within the municipality of any building, housing, health
or safety code or regulations applicable to the premises may determine compliance
with such codes or regulations.
(5)
Revocation by the Department of Community Affairs of
the operator's license or other authorization to operate a rooming or boarding
house on the premises.
(6)
Notification by the Department of Community Affairs that
the premises are not or are no longer suitable for operation of a rooming
or boarding house on the premises.
(7)
Failure or refusal to comply with any lawful regulation
or order of the licensing authority.
B.
A license shall not be revoked until five (5) days' prior
notice of the grounds therefor has been served upon the licensee, either personally
or by certified mail addressed to the licensee at the licensed premises, and
a reasonable opportunity given to the licensee to be heard thereon.
Upon determination by the licensing authority to refuse the granting
or renewal of a license or to revoke a license, the licensee affected shall
be entitled to appeal to the Commissioner of the Department of Community Affairs
for a review of that determination; and the Commissioner shall have authority
to reverse the licensing authority's determination if it concludes that the
application was improperly denied or the revocation improperly imposed. Such
review by the Commissioner shall be in conformity with the provisions of the
Administrative Procedure Act, P.L. 1968, c. 410 (N.J.S.A. 52:14B-1 et seq.).
The decision of the Commissioner in such cases shall be subject to appeal
to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. If an applicant for license
renewal has made timely and sufficient application for a renewal in accordance
with the provisions of this chapter and the rules of the licensing pursuant
thereto, his license shall not expire until any appeals under this section
have been finally determined and disposed of.
A.
Except as provided in Subsection B of this section, no rooming or boarding house shall hereafter be located or operated in any municipality which elects to license such facilities except upon premises licensed for that purpose by the licensing authority of the municipality.
B.
Any rooming or boarding house that is in lawful operation
on the date of enactment of this chapter shall be entitled to continue in
operation for one (1) year from that date and, if the owner of the premises
applies for licensure not later than the 60th day next preceding the expiration
of that year, until a final determination is made upon that application.
