The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairperson
and Vice Chairperson from its members and shall also select a Secretary
who may be either a Board member or another Township employee.
There is hereby created the office of attorney
to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Zoning Board of Adjustment
may annually appoint, fix the compensation of or agree upon the rate
of compensation of the Zoning Board of Adjustment Attorney, who shall
be an attorney other than the Township Attorney.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment may also employ
or contract for and fix the compensation of such experts and other
staff and services as it may deem necessary. The Board shall not authorize
expenditures which exceed, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount
appropriated by the governing body for its use.
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
Investigations Law of 1953 (N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.
In exercising the above-mentioned power, the
Board of Adjustment may, in conformity with the provisions of c. 291,
P.L. 1975, 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 such other requirement,
decision 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.
[Amended 3-1-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-01]
Any variance from the terms of Chapter
185, Zoning, hereafter granted by the Board of Adjustment permitting the erection or alteration of any structure or structures or permitting a specified use of any premises shall expire by limitation unless such construction or alteration shall have been actually commenced on each and every structure permitted by said variance or unless such permitted use has actually been commenced within one year from the date of entry of the judgment or determination of the Board of Adjustment or Planning Board; except, however, that the running of the period of limitation herein provided shall be extended from the date of filing an appeal from the decision of the Board of Adjustment or Planning Board to the governing body, or to a court of competent jurisdiction, until the termination in any manner of such appeal or proceeding; except, further, in the case of a variance which also involves a minor subdivision, major subdivision or site plan approval, the variance shall extend for the full period of the statutory protection of the minor subdivision, preliminary or final major subdivision or site plan approval or any extension thereof pursuant to the Municipal Land Use Law.
The Board of Adjustment shall have such powers
as are granted by law to:
A. 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 Chapter.
B. Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the
map or Zoning Chapter or for decisions upon other special questions
upon which the Board is authorized to pass by provisions in the Zoning
Chapter.
C. 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
pursuant to the zoning chapter would result in peculiar and exceptional
practical difficulties to or exceptional and undue hardship upon the
developer of such property, grant, upon an application or an appeal
relating to such property, a variance from the strict application
of such regulation so as to relieve such difficulties or hardship;
or 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 such regulations of the zoning chapter; provided, however,
that no variance from those departures enumerated in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d)
shall be granted under this subsection; and provided further that
the proposed development does not require approval by the Planning
Board of a subdivision, site plan or conditional use in conjunction
with which the Planning Board has power to review a request for a
variance pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-60(a) of the Municipal Land Use
Law.
D. In particular cases and for special reasons, grant
a variance to allow departure from regulations set forth in the zoning
chapter to permit a use or principal structure in a district restricted
against such use or principal structure; an expansion of a nonconforming
use; deviation from a specification or standard pursuant to N.J.S.A.
40:55D-67 pertaining solely to a conditional use; an increase in the
permitted floor area ratio as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4; an increase
in the permitted density as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4, 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. A variance
under this subsection shall be granted only by affirmative vote of
at least five members of the Board.
E. No variance or other relief may be granted under the
provisions of this section unless such variance or other relief can
be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and will
not substantially impair the intent and purpose of the zone plan and
zoning chapter. In respect of any airport hazard areas delineated
under the Air Safety and Hazardous Zoning Act of 1983, N.J.S.A. 6:1-80
et seq., no variance or other relief may be granted under the terms
of this section permitting the creation or establishment of a nonconforming
use which would be prohibited under the standards promulgated pursuant
to that act, except upon issuance of a permit by the Commissioner
of Transportation. An application under this section may be referred
to any appropriate person or agency other than the Planning Board
for its report, provided that such reference shall not extend the
period of time within which the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall, in addition to the powers specified in §
33-22 of this chapter, have power given by law to:
A. Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-34
for a building or structure in the bed of a mapped street or public
drainageway, flood control basin or public area reserved on the Official
Map;
B. Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36
for a building or structure not related to a street; and
C. To grant, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning Board, subdivision or site plan approval pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-37 et seq. or conditional use approval pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67 whenever the proposed development requires approval by the Board of Adjustment of a variance pursuant to Subsection d of Section 57 of the Municipal Land Use Law (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70). The developer may elect to submit a separate application requesting approval of the variance and a subsequent application for any required approval of a subdivision, site plan or conditional use. The separate approval of the variance shall be conditioned upon grant of all required subsequent approvals by the Board of Adjustment. No such subsequent approvals shall be granted unless such approval can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without substantial impairment of the intent and purpose of the zone plan and Chapter
185, Zoning. The number of votes of Board members required to grant any such subsequent approvals shall be as otherwise provided in this Act for the approval in question, and the special vote pursuant to the aforesaid Subsection d of Section 57 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d) shall not be required.
The Board of Adjustment shall, at least once
a year, review its decisions on applications and appeals for variances
and prepare and adopt by resolution a report on its findings on Zoning
Ordinance provisions which were the subject of variance requests and
its recommendations for Zoning Ordinance amendment or revision, if
any. The Board of Adjustment shall send copies of the report and resolution
to the governing body and Planning Board.