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 Willingboro appointed by the Township Council to serve for terms of four years from January 1 of the year of their appointment. The terms of the members first appointed under this section shall be one for four years, one for three years, and one for two years, as specified by the Township Council in the resolution of appointment. Thereafter, the term of each member shall be for four years.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
B. 
No member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment may hold an elective office or position under the Township.
C. 
A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of a term shall be filled for the unexpired term only.
D. 
A member may, after public hearing if the member requests it, be removed by the Township Council for cause.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairperson and a Vice Chairperson from its members and shall appoint a Secretary who may or may not be a member or alternate member of the Planning Board or a municipal employee.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
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 Township 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 article. In the issuance of subpoenas, administration of oaths and taking of testimony, the provisions of the County and Municipal Investigation Law of 1953 (N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment is authorized to adopt bylaws governing its procedural operation. It shall also have the following powers and duties:
A. 
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 official based on or made in the enforcement of Chapter 370, Zoning.
B. 
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map or Chapter 370, Zoning, or for decisions upon other special questions upon which the Board is authorized to pass by Chapter 370, Zoning, or Official Map Ordinance, if adopted.
C. 
Where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or shape of a specific piece of property or by reason of exceptional topographic conditions or by reason of other extraordinary and exceptional situation or condition of such piece of property, the strict application of any regulation in Chapter 370, Zoning, would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties to or exceptional and undue hardship upon the owner of such property, to grant, upon an application or an appeal relating to such property, a variance from such strict application, so as to relieve such difficulties or hardship, including a variance for a conditional use; provided, however, that no variance shall be granted under this section to allow a structure or use in a district restricted against such structure or use, and further provided 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 shall review a request for a variance pursuant to § 60-7H(1).
D. 
Grant a variance, consistent with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70, to allow departure from regulations pursuant to Chapter 370, Zoning, including, but not limited to, allowing a structure or use in a district restricted against such structure or use, but only by the affirmative vote of at least five members of the Board. No variance or other relief may be granted under the provisions of Subsection A, B, C or D 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 Chapter 370, Zoning. 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.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
E. 
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.
F. 
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36 for a building or structure not related to a street.
G. 
Grant, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning Board, subdivision or site plan approval or conditional use approval pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67 whenever the Board is reviewing an application for approval of a use variance pursuant to Subsection D of this section. 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 grant of all required subsequent approvals by the Zoning 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 370, Zoning. The number of votes of Board members required to grant any such subsequent approval shall be as otherwise provided in this section for the approval in question, and the special vote pursuant to Subsection D shall not be required.
(1) 
Whenever an application for development requests relief pursuant to this subsection, the Zoning 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 Township Clerk 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, such 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. Failure of the Zoning Board of Adjustment to act within the period prescribed shall constitute approval of the application, and a certificate of the Township Clerk as to the failure of the Zoning Board of Adjustment to act shall be issued on request of the applicant in lieu of the written endorsement or other evidence of approval herein required.
(2) 
Whenever review or approval of the application by the County Planning Board is required, the Zoning 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.
(3) 
An application under this subsection 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. 
Appeals to the Zoning Board of Adjustment may be taken by any interested party affected by any decision of the Township official based on or made in the enforcement of Chapter 370, Zoning, or Official Map. Each appeal shall be taken within 20 days of filing a notice of appeal with the official from whom the appeal was taken, together with three copies of such notice, with the Secretary of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The notice of appeal shall specify the grounds for the appeal. The official 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.
B. 
Three copies of an application for the exercise of the Board's power pursuant to § 60-18B, C, D, E, F or G shall be filed with the Secretary of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
C. 
At the time of the 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 relevant plot plans, maps, or other papers. The applicant shall obtain all necessary forms from the Secretary of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Secretary of the Board shall inform the applicant of the steps to be taken to initiate proceedings and of the regular meeting dates of the Board.
D. 
An appeal shall stay the decision appealed from unless the official from whose decision the appeal is taken certifies to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, after the notice of appeal shall have been filed with such official, that, by reason of facts stated in the certificate, a stay would, in such official's opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. In such case, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by an order of the Superior Court of New Jersey upon notice to the official from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
E. 
The Zoning 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, shall have all the powers of the official from whom the appeal was taken.
Any variance from the terms of Chapter 370, Zoning, granted by the Zoning Board of Adjustment permitting the erection or alteration of any structure or structures or a specified use of any premises shall expire unless such construction, alteration or use shall have been actually commenced on or in each and every structure permitted by such variance within six months from the date of authorization by the Zoning Board of Adjustment and diligently pursued to completion; except, however, that the running of this period shall be tolled from the date of filing an appeal from the decision of the Zoning Board of Adjustment to the Township Council, or to a court of jurisdiction, until the termination in any matter of such appeal or proceeding.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall render its decision not later than 120 days after the date an appeal is taken pursuant to § 60-18A or a complete application for approval of a subdivision plat, site plan, conditional use, zoning variance or direction of the issuance of a permit is submitted to the Board pursuant to the provisions of § 60-18C, D, E, F or G. Failure of the Board to render such 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. In the event the Board fails to so act on a complete application for development, the Clerk shall issue a certificate on request to the applicant, and it shall be sufficient, in lieu of the written endorsement or other evidence of approval herein required, and shall be so accepted by the County Clerk for the purposes of filing subdivision plats.
Whenever review or approval of the application by the County Planning Board is required by N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.3, in the case of a subdivision, or N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.6, in the case of a site plan, the Township Zoning 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. An application under this article may be referred to any appropriate person or agency, including the Planning Board pursuant to § 60-7G, for its report, provided that such reference shall not exceed the period of time within which the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act.
There shall be two alternate members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, each to serve for a term of two years. They shall be appointed by the Township Council. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69, the Township Council shall designate the alternate members as "Alternate No. 1" and "Alternate No. 2." In the event of the absence or disqualification of a regular member, Alternate No. 1 shall first be called upon to serve and shall vote. In the absence of an additional regular member and/or absence or disqualification of Alternate No. 1, Alternate No. 2 shall be called upon to serve and shall vote.
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).