A. 
Preparation, contents, modification.
(1) 
The Planning Board shall prepare and, after public hearing, adopt or amend a Master Plan or component parts thereof, to guide the use of land within the Township in a manner which protects public health and safety and promotes the general welfare.
(2) 
The Master Plan shall generally comprise a report or statement of land use and development proposals, with maps, diagrams and text, presenting, where appropriate, the following elements:
(a) 
A statement of objectives, principles, assumptions, policies and standards upon which the constituent proposals for the physical, economic and social development of the Township are based;
(b) 
A land use plan element:
[1] 
Taking into account the other Master Plan elements and natural conditions, including but not necessarily limited to, topography, soil conditions, water supply, drainage, floodplain areas, marshes, and woodlands;
[2] 
Showing the existing and proposed location, extent and intensity of development of land to be used in the future for varying types of residential, commercial, industrial agricultural, recreational, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational, education and other public and private purposes or combination of purposes; and
[3] 
Including a statement of the standards of population density and development intensity recommended for the Township.
(c) 
A housing plan element, including but not limited to residential standards and proposals for the construction and improvement of housing;
(d) 
A circulation plan element showing the location and types of facilities for all modes of transportation required for the efficient movement of people and goods into, about, and through the Township;
(e) 
A utility service plan element analyzing the need for and showing the future general location of water supply and distribution facilities, drainage and flood control facilities, sewerage and waste treatment, solid waste disposal and provision for other related utilities;
(f) 
A community facilities plan element showing the location and type of educational or cultural facilities, historic sites, libraries, hospitals, fire houses, police stations and other related facilities, including their relation to the surrounding areas;
(g) 
A recreation plan element showing a comprehensive system of areas and public sites for recreation;
(h) 
A conservation plan element providing for the preservation, conservation, and utilization of natural resources, including, to the extent appropriate, open space, water, forests, soil, marshes, wetlands, harbors, rivers and other waters, fisheries, wildlife and other natural resources;
(i) 
An energy conservation plan element which systematically analyzes the impact of each component and element of the Master Plan on the present and future use of energy in the municipality, details specific measures contained in the other plan elements designed to reduce energy consumption and proposes other measures that the municipality may take to reduce energy consumption and to provide for the maximum utilization of renewable energy sources;
(j) 
A recycling plan element; and
(k) 
Appendices or separate reports containing the technical foundation for the Master Plan and its constituent elements.
(3) 
The Master Plan and its plan elements may be divided into subplans and subplan elements projected according to periods of time or staging sequences.
(4) 
The Master Plan shall include all specific policy statement indicating the relationship of the proposed development of the Township as developed in the Master Plan to:
(a) 
The Master Plans of contiguous municipalities;
(b) 
The Master Plan of Atlantic County;
(c) 
Any comprehensive New Jersey State Land Use Plan; and
(d) 
Pinelands Comprehensive Management Plan.
B. 
Periodic examination.
(1) 
The Township Committee shall, at least every six years, provide for a general examination of the Master Plan and this development ordinance by the Planning Board which shall prepare a report on the findings of such examination, a copy of which shall be sent to the County Planning Board and the municipal clerks of each adjoining municipality. The six-year period shall commence with the adoption or termination of the last general examination of such plan and regulations. The first such examination shall be completed within six years after August 1, 1976.
(2) 
Such report shall state:
(a) 
The major problems and objectives relating to land development in the Township at the time of such adoption, last revision or examination, if any.
(b) 
The extent to which such problems and objectives have been reduced or have increased subsequent to such date.
(c) 
The extent to which there have been significant changes in the assumptions, policies and objectives forming the basis for such plan or regulations as last revised, with particular regard to the density and distribution of population and land uses, housing conditions, circulation, conservation of natural resources and change in state, county and Township policies and objectives.
(d) 
The specific changes recommended for such plan or regulations, if any, including underlying objectives, policies and standards, or whether a new plan or regulations should be prepared.
A. 
Establishment of an Official Map.
(1) 
There is hereby adopted, pursuant to the provision of Section 23 of P.L. 1975, c. 291,[1] a document known as "The Official Map of the Township of Mullica."[2]
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-32.
[2]
Editor's Note: The Zoning Districts Map is included at the end of this chapter.
(2) 
Said Official Map shall be deemed conclusive with respect to the location and width of streets and public drainage ways, and the location and extent of flood control basins and public areas, whether or not such streets, ways, basins or areas are improved or unimproved or are in actual physical existence. Upon receiving an application for development, the Township may reserve for future use, the aforesaid streets, ways, basins, and areas in the manner provided in Article VIII, § 144-53, Reservation of public areas, of this chapter.
B. 
Issuance of permits for buildings or structures. For purposes of preserving the integrity of the Official Map, no permits shall be issued for any building or structure in the bed of any street or public drainage way, flood control basin or public area reserved pursuant to Article III, § 144-12A, Official Map, of this chapter as shown on the Official Map, or shown on a plat filed pursuant to this chapter before adoption of the Official Map, except as provided herein. Whenever one or more parcels of land, upon which is located the bed of such mapped street or public drainage way, flood control basin or public areas reserved pursuant to Subsection A hereof, cannot yield a reasonable return to the owner unless a building permit is granted, the Board of Adjustment may, in a specific case, by a affirmative vote of a majority of the full authorized membership of the board, direct the issuance of a permit for a building or structure in the bed of such mapped street, or public drainage way or flood control basin or public area reserved pursuant to Subsection A hereof, which will as little as practicable increase the cost of opening such street, or tend to cause a minimum change of the Official Map and the board shall impose reasonable requirements as a condition of granting the permit so as to promote the health, morals, safety and general welfare of the public. Sections 144-25 through 144-28 of this chapter shall apply to applications or appeals pursuant to this application.
C. 
Building to abut street. No permit for the erection of any building or structure shall be issued unless the lot abuts a street as defined in § 144-100, Streets, of this chapter giving access to such proposed building or structure. Such street shall have been duly placed on the Official Map or shall be: an existing state, county or municipal street or highway; or a street shown upon a plat approved by the Planning Board; or a street on a plat duly filed in the office of the county recording officer prior to the passage of an ordinance under this act or any prior law which required prior approval of plats by the governing body or other authorized body. Before any such permit shall be issued: such street shall have been certified to be suitably improved to the satisfaction of the governing body, or such suitable improvement shall have been assured by means of a performance guarantee, in accordance with standards and specifications for road improvements approved by the governing body, as adequate in respect to the public health, safety and general welfare of the special circumstance of the particular street; and it shall have been established that the proposed access conforms with the standards of the state highway access management code adopted by the Commissioner of Transportation under Section 3 of the State Highway Access Management Act, P.L. 1989, c. 32 (N.J.S.A.27:7-91), in the case of a State highway, with the standards of any access management code adopted by the county under N.J.S.A. 27:16-1 in the case of a county road or highway, and with the standards of any municipal access management code adopted under N.J.S.A. 40:67-1 in the case of a municipal street or highway.
D. 
Appeals.
(1) 
Where the enforcement of Subsection C, Building to abut a street, of this section would entail practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship, or where the circumstances of the case do not require the building or structure to the related to a street, the Board of Adjustment may, upon application or appeal, vary the application of Subsection C, Building to abut a street, and direct the issuance of a permit subject to conditions that will provide adequate access for firefighting equipment, ambulances and other emergency vehicles necessary for the protection of health and safety and that will protect any future street layout shown on the Official Map or on a general circulation plan element of the municipal master plan pursuant to Subsection A(4) of § 144-10, Master Plan, of this chapter.
(2) 
Sections 144-25 through 144-28 of this chapter shall apply to applications or appeals pursuant to this section.
(3) 
The Board of Adjustment shall not exercise the power otherwise granted by this section if the proposed development requires approval by the Planning Board of a subdivision, site plan or conditional use in conjunction with which the Planning Board has power to direct the issuance of a permit pursuant to Subsection B of this section.