The provisions of this article apply to all the procedures in this part (Part 6) unless otherwise expressly stated.
A. 
Form of application. Applications required under this Zoning Ordinance must be submitted in a form and in such numbers as required by the Code Enforcement Officer. The Code Enforcement Officer must develop checklists of application submittal requirements and make those checklists available to the public. Application forms and checklists of required submittal information are available in the Code Enforcement Office.
B. 
Completeness and accuracy review.
(1) 
An application will be considered complete and ready for processing only if it is submitted in the required number and form, includes all required information and is accompanied by the required filing fee.
(2) 
If an application is determined to be incomplete, the Code Enforcement Officer must provide paper or electronic written notice to the applicant along with an explanation of all known deficiencies in the application that will prevent competent review of the application. No further processing of the application will occur until the deficiencies are corrected. If the deficiencies are not corrected by the applicant within 60 days, the application will be considered withdrawn.
(3) 
No further processing of incomplete applications will occur, and incomplete applications will be pulled from the processing cycle. When the deficiencies are corrected, the application will be placed in the next available processing cycle.
(4) 
The Code Enforcement Officer may require that applications or plans be revised before being placed on the agenda of a review or decisionmaking body if the Code Enforcement Officer determines that:
(a) 
The application or plan contains one or more significant inaccuracies or omissions that hinder timely or competent evaluation of the plan's/application's compliance with Zoning Ordinance standards; or
(b) 
The application contains multiple minor inaccuracies or omissions that hinder timely or competent evaluation of the plan's/application's compliance with Zoning Ordinance standards.
C. 
Application sufficiency and acceptance. Applications deemed complete will be considered to be in the processing cycle and will be reviewed by the Code Enforcement Officer and other review and decisionmaking bodies in accordance with applicable review and approval procedures of this Zoning Ordinance.
D. 
Application filing fees. Application filing fees are required for processing permit and applications to the governing boards, Planning Boards, and Boards of Appeals. The fees help offset the cost of providing public notice, personnel costs for plan/permit reviews and field inspections. Fees are not required with applications initiated by the governing body. Application fees are nonrefundable.
A. 
Application processing cycles. The Code Enforcement Officer or Planning Department as applicable, after consulting with review and decisionmaking bodies, shall promulgate processing cycles for applications. Processing cycles may establish:
(1) 
Deadlines for receipt of complete applications;
(2) 
Dates of regular meetings;
(3) 
The scheduling of agency and staff reviews and reports; and
(4) 
Time frames for review and decisionmaking.
B. 
Public hearings.
(1) 
Parties in interest and citizens must be given an opportunity to appear and be heard at required public hearings, subject to reasonable rules of procedure.
(2) 
A public hearing for which proper notice was given may be continued to a later date without providing additional notice as long as the continuance is set for specified date and time and that date and time is announced at the time of the continuance.
(3) 
If a public hearing is tabled, deferred or postponed for an indefinite period of time from the date of the originally scheduled public hearing, new public notice must be given before the rescheduled public hearing. If the applicant requests a postponement, the applicant must pay all costs of renotification.
C. 
Public hearing notices.
(1) 
Newspaper notice. Whenever the provisions of this Zoning Ordinance require that newspaper notice be provided, the notice must be published in a newspaper of general circulation within the municipality.
(2) 
Mailed notice.
(a) 
Whenever the provisions of this Zoning Ordinance require that notices be mailed, the notices must be sent by United States Postal Service first class mail.
(b) 
Addresses must be based on the latest property ownership information available from the real property assessment records. When required notices have been properly addressed and deposited in the United States mail, failure of a party to receive such notice will not be grounds to invalidate any action taken.
(3) 
Posted notice. When the provisions of this Zoning Ordinance require that posted notice be provided, at least one notice sign must be posted on each public street frontage abutting the subject property in a location plainly visible to passersby.
(4) 
Content of notice. All required public hearing notices must:
(a) 
Indicate the date, time and place of the public hearing or date of action that is the subject of the notice;
(b) 
Describe any property involved in the application by street address or by general description;
(c) 
Describe the general nature, scope and purpose of the application or proposal; and
(d) 
Indicate where additional information on the matter can be obtained.
A. 
Review and decisionmaking bodies may take any action that is consistent with:
(1) 
The regulations of this Zoning Ordinance;
(2) 
Any rules or bylaws that apply to the review or decisionmaking body; and
(3) 
The notice that was given.
B. 
Review and decisionmaking bodies are authorized to defer action or continue a public hearing in order to receive additional information or further deliberate.
When decisionmaking bodies approve applications with conditions, the conditions must relate to a situation created or aggravated by the proposed use or development and must be roughly proportional to the impacts of the use or development.
In all cases, the burden is on the applicant to show that an application complies with all applicable review or approval criteria. Applications must address relevant review and decisionmaking criteria.