There is hereby established pursuant to P.L.
1975, c. 291, in the Borough of Oaklyn, a Planning Board of nine members,
consisting of the following four classes:
B. Class II: one of the officials of the municipality
other than a member of the governing body, to be appointed by the
Mayor, provided that if there is an Environmental Commission, the
member of the Environmental Commission who is also a member of the
Planning Board, as required by N.J.S.A. 40:56A-1, shall be deemed
to be the Class II Planning Board member if there are both a member
of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and a member of the Board of Education
among the Class IV members.
C. Class III: a member of the governing body to be appointed
by it.
D. Class IV: eight other citizens of the municipality
to be appointed by the Mayor, six to be full members of the Planning
Board, with the remaining two to be alternate members of the Planning
Board. The members of Class IV shall hold no other municipal office,
position or employment, except that one such member may be a member
of the Zoning Board of Adjustment or Historic Preservation Commission,
and one member may be a member of the Board of Education. A member
of the Environmental Commission who is also a member of the Planning
Board, as required by N.J.S.A. 40:56A-1, shall be a Class IV Planning
Board member unless there is among the Class IV members of the Planning
Board both a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment or Historic
Preservation Commission and a member of the Board of Education, in
which case the member of the Environmental Commission shall be deemed
to be the Class II member of the Planning Board. For the purpose of
this subsection, membership on a municipal board or commission whose
function is advisory in nature and the establishment of which is discretionary
and not required by statute shall not be considered the holding of
municipal office.
[Amended 8-13-1991 by Ord. No. 7-91; 10-11-1994 by Ord. No. 11-94]
A. The term of the member composing Class I shall correspond
with his 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 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 comes first.
B. The term of the Class IV member who is also a member
of the Board of Adjustment or 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 comes first.
C. The terms of all Class IV members first appointed
pursuant to this chapter shall be so determined that to the greatest
practicable extent the expiration of such terms shall be evenly distributed
over the first four years after their appointment as determined by
resolution of the governing body; provided, however, that no term
of any member shall exceed four years, and further provided that nothing
herein shall affect the term of any present member of the Planning
Board, all of whom shall continue in office until the completion of
the term for which they were appointed. Thereafter, all Class IV members
shall be appointed for terms of four years except as otherwise herein
provided. All terms shall run from January of the year in which the
appointment was made.
If a vacancy of any class shall occur otherwise
than by expiration of term, it shall be filled by appointment as above
provided for the unexpired term.
The Planning 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 Planning Board or a municipal
employee designated by it.
There is hereby created the office of Planning
Board Attorney. The Planning Board may annually appoint said Attorney
who shall be an attorney other than the Municipal Attorney. The Borough
Planning Board shall fix the compensation, and such compensation shall
not exceed, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount appropriated
by the Borough Council for its use.
The Planning Board may also employ or contract
for the services of experts and other staff and services as it may
deem necessary. The Planning Board shall fix compensation as it may
deem necessary not exceeding, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount
appropriated by the Borough Council 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.
It shall also have the following powers and duties:
A. To make and adopt and from time to time amend a Master
Plan for the physical development of the municipality, including any
areas outside its boundaries which, in the Board's judgment, bear
essential relation to the planning of the municipality, in accordance
with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-28.
B. To administer the provision of the land subdivision
regulations and site plan review regulations of the municipality in
accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the Municipal Land
Use Law, P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.).
C. To review and make recommendations to Borough Council
in regard to the Official Map and any revisions as proposed by Borough
Council in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-26 and
40:55D-32 through 40:55D-36.
D. To approve conditional use applications in accordance
with the provisions of the Zoning Ordinance pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67.
E. To participate in the preparation and review of programs
or plans required by state or federal law or regulations.
F. To assemble data on a continuing basis as part of
a continuous planning process.
G. To annually prepare a program of municipal capital
improvement projects projected over a term of six years, and amendments
thereto, and recommend the same to the governing body.
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 Planning
Board by the governing body, pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A.
40:55D-26b.
I. When reviewing applications for approval of subdivision
plans, site plans or conditional uses, to grant to the same extent
and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning Board:
[Amended 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
(1) Variances, pursuant to Section 57c of Chapter 291
of the Laws of 1975, from lot area, lot dimensional setback and yard
requirements, provided that such relief from lot area requirements
shall not be granted for more than one lot.
(2) Direction, pursuant to Section 25 of said Act, 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 Section 23 of said Act.
(3) Direction, pursuant to Section 27 of said Act, for issuance of a permit for a building or structure not
related to a street.
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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.
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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 or officers.
[Amended 8-13-1991 by Ord. No. 7-91]
Whenever the Planning Board is called upon to exercise its ancillary powers before the granting of a variance as set forth in §
85-10I above, the Planning Board shall grant or deny approval of the application within 120 days after submission by the developer of the complete application or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. In the event that the developer elects to submit separate consecutive applications, the aforesaid provisions shall apply to the application for approval of the variance or direction for issuance of a permit. The period for granting or denying the subsequent site plan or subdivision application shall be as otherwise provided in this chapter. Failure of the Planning Board to act within the time period prescribed shall constitute approval of the application, and a certificate of the administrative officer as to the failure of the Planning Board to act shall be issued on request of the applicant.
The Mayor may appoint one or more persons as
a Citizens' Advisory Committee to assist or collaborate with the Planning
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 the Environmental Commission has prepared
and submitted to the Planning Board an index of the natural resources
of the municipality, the Planning Board shall make available to the
Environmental Commission an informational copy of every application
for development to the Planning Board. Failure of the Planning Board to make such informational
copy available to the Environmental Commission shall not invalidate
any hearing or proceeding.
A. The powers of the Planning Board shall be in accordance
with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69 et seq., and amendments and supplements thereto,
and with the provisions of this chapter.
[Amended 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
B. It is further the intent of this chapter to confer
upon the Planning Board as full and complete powers as may lawfully
be conferred upon such Board, including not by way of limitation the
authority, in connection with any case, action or proceeding before
the Board, to interpret and construe the provisions of this chapter
or any term, clause, sentence or word hereof, and the Zoning Map,
in accordance with the general rules of construction applicable to
legislative enactment.
[Amended 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
C. The Board may, in appropriate cases and subject to
appropriate conditions and safeguards, grant variances from the terms
of this chapter in accordance with the general or specific rules hereby
laid down that equity shall be done in cases where strict construction
of the provisions of this chapter would work undue hardship. The powers
and duties of the Board having been delegated to and imposed upon
it by statute, the Board shall, in all cases, follow the provisions
applicable to it in said P.L. 1975, c. 291, or subsequent statutes in such case made and provided,
and it shall, from time to time, furnish to any person requesting
the same a copy of its rules and information as to how appeals or
applications may properly be filed with the Board for its decision
thereon.
[Amended 8-13-1991 by Ord. No. 7-91; 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
A. Appeals to the Planning Board may be taken by any
interested party affected by any decision of an administrative officer
of the municipality based on or made in the enforcement of the Zoning
Ordinance or the Official Map. Such appeal shall be taken within
20 days by filing a notice of appeal with the officer from whom the
appeal is taken, specifying the grounds of such appeal, together with
three copies of said notice with the Secretary of the Planning Board.
The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall immediately transmit
to the Board all the papers constituting the record upon which the
action appealed from was taken. Whenever an administrative officer
of the municipality denies a building permit or zoning permit, the
administrative officer shall issue a written denial to the applicant,
giving the reason for denial, citing the appropriate section of the
chapter upon which the denial is based and advising the applicant
of his right to appeal the decision to the Planning Board and the
time period for doing so.
B. Applications addressed to the original jurisdiction
of the Planning Board, without prior application to an administrative
officer, shall be filed with the Secretary of the Planning Board.
Three copies of the application shall be filed. At the time of filing
the appeal or application, but in no event less than 10 days prior
to the date set for hearing, the applicant shall also file all plot
plans, maps or other papers required by virtue of any provisions of
this chapter or any rule of the Planning Board. Applications shall
be obtained from the Secretary of the Planning Board.
C. An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of
the action in respect of which the decision appealed from was made,
unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the
Planning Board after the notice of appeal shall have been filed with
him that by reason of facts stated in the certificate a stay would,
in his opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. In such
cases, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining
order, which may be granted by the Planning Board or by the Superior
Court of New Jersey on application or notice to the officer from whom
the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
[Amended 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
The Planning Board may reverse or affirm, wholly
or in part, or may modify the action, order, requirement, decision,
interpretation or determination appealed from and to that end have
all the powers of the administrative officer from whom the appeal
is taken.
[Amended 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
Any variance from the terms of this chapter
hereafter granted by the Planning Board 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 allowed by said variance, or unless such permitted
use has actually been commenced, within one year from the date of
publication; except, however, that the running of the period of limitation
herein provided shall be tolled from the date of filling 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.
[Amended 8-13-1991 by Ord. No. 7-91; 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
A. The Planning Board shall have such powers as are granted
by law to:
(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 or agency based on or
made in the enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance.
(2) Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the
Zoning Map or Zoning Ordinance or for decisions upon other special
questions upon which such Board is authorized by the Zoning Ordinance
to pass.
(3) 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 Ordinance 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; where, in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property, the purposes of the Zoning Ordinance 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 a regulation in the Zoning Ordinance; provided, however, that no variance from those departures enumerated in Subsection
A(4) of this section shall be granted under this subsection, and provided further that a 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 variance pursuant to Section 47a of the Municipal Land Use Law of 1975, P.L. 1975, c. 291.
(4) In particular cases and for special reasons, grant
a variance to allow departure from regulations in the Zoning Ordinance
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 Section 54
of P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67) pertaining solely to a conditional
use; an increase in the permitted floor area ratio as defined in Section
3.1 of P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4); or an increase in the
permitted density as defined in Section 3.1 of P.L. 1975, c. 291 (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 an affirmative vote of at least five members of the Board.
B. No variance or other relief may be granted under the
provisions of this section unless such a 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 Ordinance. Any application under any subsection of this
section may be referred to any appropriate person or agency for its
report, provided that such reference shall not extend the period of
time within which the Planning Board shall act.
[Amended 8-13-1991 by Ord. No. 7-91; 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
The Planning Board shall, in addition to the powers specified in §
85-23 of this article, have power given by law to:
A. Direct issuance of 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.
A. The Planning Board shall render its decision not later
than 120 days after the date an appeal was taken from the decision
of an administrative officer or 120 days after the submission of complete
application for development to the Board pursuant to the provisions
of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-72b.
[Amended 8-13-1991 by Ord. No. 7-91; 4-11-1995 by Ord. No. 3-95]
B. Failure of the Board to render a decision within such
one-hundred-twenty-day period or within such further time as may be
consented to by the applicant shall constitute a decision favorable
to the applicant.