[Amended 9-1-1981 by Ord. No. 853]
A.
A Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby established
pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69 et seq., consisting of seven residents
of the Township of Wyckoff, each to be appointed by the Mayor, with
the approval of the Township Committee, to serve for a term of four
years from January 1 of the year of his appointment. The terms of
the members first appointed 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
the initial term of no member shall exceed four years. Thereafter
the term of each member shall be for four years. Nothing in this chapter
shall, however, be construed to affect the term of any present member
of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, all of whom shall continue in office
until the completion of the term for which they were appointed.
B.
No member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment may hold
any elective office or position under the municipality.
C.
A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of
term shall be filled for the unexpired term only.
D.
The Mayor, with the approval of the Township Committee,
may also appoint two alternate members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment,
who shall each be appointed for a term of two years from January 1
of the year of his appointment. The alternate members shall be designated
by the Township Committee as "Alternate No. 1" and "Alternate No.
2" and shall serve in rotation during the absence or disqualification
of any regular member or members.
The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman
and Vice Chairman from its members and shall also select a Secretary,
who may be either a Board of Adjustment member or 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, provided
it does not exceed the amount appropriated by the governing body for
is use and it does not exceed the compensation set forth for the Zoning
Board of Adjustment Attorney in the Annual Salary Ordinance. The Zoning
Board of Adjustment Attorney 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 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.
A.
The powers of the Zoning Board of Adjustment 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.
B.
It is further the intent of this chapter to confer
upon the Zoning Board of Adjustment 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 enactments.
C.
The Board may, in appropriate cases and subject to
appropriate conditions and safeguards, relax or dispense with the
terms of this chapter in accordance with the general or specific rules
contained herein and with the general rules hereby laid down, that
equity shall be done in cases where the 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 Chapter 291 of the Laws of 1975[1] 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.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
A.
Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by
any interested party affected by any decision of the administrative
officer. Each appeal shall be taken within the 20 days prescribed
by the statute by filing a notice of appeal with the officer from
whom the appeal is taken, together with nine copies of said notice
with the Township Clerk. Said notice of appeal shall specify the grounds
for said appeal. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith
transmit to the Board all the papers constituting the record upon
which the action appealed from was taken.
[Amended 2-5-1980 by Ord. No. 815]
B.
Completed applications addressed to the original jurisdiction
of the Board of Adjustment without prior application to an administrative
officer shall be filed as provided by the rules and regulations of
the Board with the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment of the Township
of Wyckoff. At the time of filing the appeal or completed 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 this chapter or any rule of the Board of Adjustment. The
applicant shall obtain all necessary forms from the Secretary of the
Board of Adjustment. The Secretary of the Board of Adjustment shall
inform the applicant of the steps to be taken to initiate proceedings
and of the regular meeting dates of the Board.
C.
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 whom 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
otherwise than by a restraining order which may be granted by the
Board of Adjustment 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.
D.
In granting subdivision or site plan approval in connection
with a use variance, the Board of Adjustment shall follow the same
procedures as the Planning Board as contained in this chapter.
E.
Public notice on any application for variances shall
be given in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-12.
In exercising the above-mentioned power, the
Board of Adjustment may, in conformity with the provisions of P.L.
1975, c. 291,[1] or amendments thereto or subsequent statutes applying
thereto, 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.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
Any variance 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 publication of the judgment or determination
of the Board of Adjustment; except, however, that the running of the
period of limitation herein provided shall be tolled from the date
of filing an appeal from the decision of the Board of Adjustment to
the governing body or to a court of competent jurisdiction until the
termination in any manner of such appeal or proceeding, and also except,
however, in the case of a use variance which also involves a subdivision
or site plan, approval of the variance shall extend for the full period
of preliminary approval.
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall have such powers as
are granted by law to:
(2)
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the
Zoning Map or zoning regulations or for decisions upon other special
questions upon which the Board is authorized to pass by any zoning
regulations or official map in accordance with this chapter.
[Amended 7-2-1985 by Ord. No. 961]
(3)
Variances.
[Amended 2-5-1980 by Ord. No. 815; 7-2-1985 by Ord. No. 961]
(a)
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 zoning regulations would result in peculiar and exceptional
practical difficulties to or exceptional and undue hardship upon the
developer of such property, grant, upon application or appeal relating
to such property, a variance from such strict application of such
regulations so as to relieve such difficulties or hardship;
(b)
Where, in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property, the purposes of this Article would be advanced by a deviation from the zoning requirements and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, grant a variance to allow departure from regulations pursuant to 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 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).
(4)
In particular cases and for special reasons, grant
a variance to allow departure from the regulations or the zoning ordinance
to permit a use of 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; and an increase in the permitted density 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 section shall be granted only by an affirmative
vote of at least five members.
[Amended 2-5-1980 by Ord. No. 815; 7-2-1985 by Ord. No. 961]
B.
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 Ordinance. Any application under any subsection of this section
may be referred to any appropriate person or agency, including 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.
A.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall, in addition to the powers specified in § 46-24 of this Article, have power given by law 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 on the Official
Map, 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.
B.
The Board of Adjustment shall have the power to grant,
to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning
Board, subdivision or site plan approval pursuant to Article 6 of
P.L. 1975, c. 291,[1] 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 Act[2] (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70), [Article II, § 46-24A(4), of this chapter]. The developer may elect to submit a separate application requesting approval of the variance and subsequent application for any required approval of a subdivision, site plan or conditional use. The separate approval of the variance shall be conditioned upon the 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 Zoning Ordinance. The number of votes of Board members required to grant any such subsequent approval shall be as otherwise provided in the Municipal Land Use Act for the approval in question, and the special vote pursuant to the aforesaid Subsection d of Section 57 shall not be required.
[Amended 2-5-1980 by Ord. No. 815]
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall render its decision not later than 120 days after the date a notice of appeal has been filed with the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment from the decision of an administrative officer or after the submission of a complete application for development to the Board pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70b. In the event that the developer elects to submit separate consecutive applications as provided in Article II, § 46-25B, the aforesaid provision shall apply to the application for approval of the variance. The period for granting or denying any subsequent approval shall be as otherwise provided in the Municipal Land Use Act.
[Amended 2-5-1980 by Ord. No. 815]
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.
C.
The Board of Adjustment may refer any application
to any appropriate person or agency, including the Planning Board,
for its report, provided that such reference shall not extend the
period of time within which the Board of Adjustment shall act.
D.
Whenever review or approval of the application by
the County Planning Board is required by Section 5 of P.L. 1968, c.
285 (N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.3), in the case of a subdivision, or Section
8 of P.L. 1968, c. 285 (N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.6), in the case of a site
plan, the Municipal Board of Adjustment shall condition any approval
that it grants upon timely receipt of a favorable report on the application
by the County Planning Board or approval by the County Planning Board
by its failure to report thereon within the required time.
