A Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby established, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., consisting of seven residents of the Borough of Woodcliff Lake appointed by the Mayor to serve for terms of four years, except as otherwise provided. The terms shall run from January 1 of the year of the appointment. One Zoning Board member may also be a member of the Planning Board. No member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment may hold any elective office or position under the municipality.
To the greatest practical extent, the expiration of the terms shall be distributed from year to year. In order to accomplish this, in 1986, there shall be appointed two members who shall each serve for a term of four years. In 1987, there shall be appointed two members, each to serve for a term of four years, and there shall also be appointed to a special two-year term, one member. In 1988, there shall be appointed two members, each to serve for a term of four years, and in 1989, there shall be appointed one member to serve for a term of four years. Nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect the term of any present member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, and all present members shall continue in office until the completion of the terms for which they were appointed.
A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of term shall be filled for the unexpired term only. The Board Secretary shall maintain records to indicate the appointment date of each member or alternate, so that if a vacancy occurs, the length of the unexpired term shall be readily available. Upon the occurrence of a vacancy, the Board Chairman shall transmit to the Mayor the fact of the vacancy and the length of the unexpired term to be filled.
A.
There shall be appointed in January of each year, two alternate members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, whose terms shall expire at the end of each year of the appointment. An alternate member shall be entitled to sit and participate as a member in any hearing before the Zoning Board of Adjustment, and an alternate member who has attended the full hearing or who has complied with Article III, § 37-27, may participate in the Zoning Board of Adjustment's decision during the absence or disqualification of any regular member. The two alternate members shall be designated by the Chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment as "Alternate No. 1" and "Alternate No. 2," and each shall participate in the Zoning Board of Adjustment's decision in rotation during the absence or disqualification of any regular member or members.
B.
Alternate members may participate in discussions of the proceedings but may not vote except in the absence or disqualification of a regular member. 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.
The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman from its members and shall also select a Secretary, who may or may not be a Board member or another municipal 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 Municipal 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 may adopt such rules and regulations (bylaws) 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.
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall have the power 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 based on or made in the enforcement of Chapter 380, Zoning, of the Code of the Borough of Woodcliff Lake.
(2)
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map or Chapter 380, Zoning, or for decisions upon other special questions upon which such Board is authorized to pass by any zoning or official map ordinance in accordance with this chapter.
(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 land use regulation 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 such strict application of such regulation so as to relieve such difficulties or hardship;
(4)
Where, in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property, the purposes of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. would be advanced by a deviation from the Chapter 380, Zoning, requirements and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, grant a variance to allow departure from land use regulations; provided, however, that no variance from those departures enumerated in Subsection A(5) of this section 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 § 37-8B and C of this chapter.
(5)
Grant variances to allow departure from land use procedures.
(a)
In particular cases and for special reasons, the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall have the power to grant a variance to allow departure from land use regulations to permit:
[1]
A use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use or principal structure.
[2]
An expansion of a nonconforming use.
[3]
Deviation from a specification or standard pertaining solely to a conditional use.
[4]
An increase in the permitted floor area ratio, as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4.
[5]
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.
(b)
A variance under this subsection shall be granted only by the affirmative vote of at least five members.
B.
No variance or other relief may be granted under the terms 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 the purpose of the zone plan and Chapter 380, Zoning. With respect to 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 for its report, provided that such reference shall not extend the period of time within which the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act.
C.
The Board shall have the following additional powers as per N.J.S.A. 40:55D-76 and shall have the power to:
(1)
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 pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-32.
(2)
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36 for a building or structure not related to a street.
(3)
Grant, to the same extent and subject to the same a restrictions as the Planning Board, subdivision or site plan approval or conditional use approval whenever the proposed development requires approval by the Board of Adjustment of a variance pursuant to § 37-19A(5) of this chapter. 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 approval 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 380, Zoning. The number of votes of Board members required to grant any such subsequent approval shall be as otherwise provided in this chapter for the approval in question, and the special vote pursuant to the aforesaid § 37-19A(5) shall not be required.
D.
Whenever an applicant for development requests relief pursuant to Subsection C(3) of this section, the Board of Adjustment shall grant or deny approval of the application within 120 days after 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. In the event that the developer elects to submit separate consecutive applications, the aforesaid provision shall apply to the application for approval of the variance. The period for granting or denying any subsequent application shall be as regularly provided.
A.
Appeals to the Board of Adjustment 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 Chapter 380, Zoning, of the Code of the Borough of Woodcliff Lake 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. 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.
B.
A developer may file an application for development with the Board of Adjustment for action under any of its powers without prior application to an administrative officer.
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall render a decision not later than 120 days after the date an appeal is taken from the decision of an administrative officer or the submission of a complete application for development to the Board of Adjustment pursuant to § 37-20B of this chapter.
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.
The Board of Adjustment 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.
An appeal to the Board of Adjustment shall stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action in respect to which the decision appealed from was made, unless the officer from whose action the appeal is taken certifies to the Board of Adjustment 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 case, proceedings shall not be stayed other than by an order of the Superior Court upon notice of the officer from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.