[Adopted 11-16-1998 by Ord. No. 1998-566]
A.
The State of New Jersey Uniform Construction Code N.J.S.A. 52:27D-126e
permits the governing body of any municipality to provide by ordinance
that no person shall be charged a construction permit surcharge fee
or enforcing agency fee for any construction, reconstruction, alteration
or improvement designed and undertaken solely to promote accessibility
by disabled persons to an existing public or private structure or
any of the facilities contained therein.
B.
The Borough Council of the Borough of Spotswood believes that the
promotion of such accessibility improvements in residential buildings
is for the public good.
For the purposes of this article, the following definitions
shall apply:
A person who has the total and permanent inability to engage
in any substantial gainful activity by reason of any medically determinable
physical or mental impairment, including blindness, and shall include,
but not be limited to, any resident of the Borough who is disabled
pursuant to the Federal Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. § 416),
or the Federal Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. § 231
et seq.), or is rated as having a 60% disability, or higher, pursuant
to any federal law administered by the United States Veterans' Act.
For the purposes of this definition, "blindness" means central visual
acuity of 20/200, or less, in the better eye with the use of a correcting
lens. An eye which is accompanied by a limitation in the fields of
vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends
an angle no greater than 20° shall be considered as having a central
visual acuity of 20/200 or less.
A disabled person, or a parent, or sibling, of a disabled person,
shall not be required to pay any municipal fee or charge in order
to secure a construction permit for any construction, reconstruction,
alteration, or improvement which promotes to his or her own living
unit.
This article specifically excludes accessibility improvements
made to buildings or structures devoted to commercial use.
