A. 
A Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby established pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., consisting of seven residents of the City of East Orange appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the governing body to serve for terms of four years from January 1 of the year of their 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 that the initial term of no member shall exceed four years. Thereafter, the term of each member shall be for four years. Four alternate members designated at the time of their appointment as "Alternate No. 1," "Alternate No. 2," "Alternate No. 3" and "Alternate No. 4" shall be appointed for a term not to exceed two years.
B. 
Nothing in this article shall, however, be construed to affect the term of any present member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
C. 
No member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment may hold any elective office or position under the municipality.
D. 
A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of term shall be filled for the unexpired term only.
E. 
Alternate members.
(1) 
Alternate members may participate in all matters but may not vote except in the absence or disqualification of a regular member.
(2) 
Participation of alternate members shall not be deemed to increase the size of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
(3) 
A vote shall not be delayed in order that a regular member may vote instead of an alternate member.
(4) 
In the event that a choice must be made as to which alternate member is to vote, alternate members are to vote in the order of their numerical designations.
F. 
If the Zoning Board of Adjustment lacks a quorum because any of its regular or alternate members is prohibited by N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69 from acting on a matter due to the member's personal or financial interest therein, Class IV members of the Planning Board shall be called upon to serve, for that matter only, as temporary members of the Board of Adjustment. The Class IV members of the Planning Board shall be called upon to serve in order of seniority of continuous service to the Planning Board until there are the minimum number of members necessary to constitute a quorum to act upon the matter without any personal or financial interest therein, whether direct or indirect. If a choice has to be made between Class IV members of equal seniority, the Chairman of the Planning Board shall make the choice.
The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman from its members and shall also select a Secretary, who may or may not be a member of the Board of Adjustment or a municipal employee.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment may also employ or contract and fix the compensation of such experts and other staff and offices 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. It shall also receive advice and information from staff of the City of East Orange as it may deem necessary.
A. 
The Board shall adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry into effect the provisions and purposes of this article.
B. 
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 thereof 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, grant variances from 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 as applicable to it in said N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., or subsequent statutes in such case made and provided, and the Administrative Officer 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.
D. 
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall have such powers as are granted by law to:
(1) 
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 administrative official or agency based on or made in the enforcement of Chapter 51, Land Use.
(2) 
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map or this chapter or for decisions on other special questions upon which such board is authorized by ordinance to pass.
(3) 
Grant "C" variances pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c.
(a) 
General provisions.
[1] 
The fact that a proposed use is an inherently beneficial use shall not be dispositive of a decision on a variance under this subsection.
[2] 
No variance from those departures enumerated in Subsection D(4) ("D" variances) of this section shall be granted under this subsection.
[3] 
No variance shall be granted under this subsection for proposed development that requires approval by the Planning Board of a subdivision, site plan or a 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.
(b) 
"C(1)" or "hardship" variances. The Zoning Board of Adjustment may grant, upon an application or an appeal relating to a specific piece of property, a variance from the strict application of any regulation in this chapter that would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties or exceptional and undue hardship upon the developer of such property, subject to the provisions of Subsection D(3)(a) of this section, by reason of one or more of the following conditions:
[1] 
By reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific piece of property, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c(1)(a); or
[2] 
By reason of exceptional topographic conditions, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c(1)(b); or
[3] 
By reason of other extraordinary and exceptional situation or condition of such piece of property or the structures lawfully existing thereon, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c(1)(c).
(c) 
"C(2)" or "substantial benefit" variances. The Zoning Board of Adjustment may grant a variance to allow departure from regulations under this chapter pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c(2) where in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property the purposes of this act or the purposes of the Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act, N.J.S.A. 18A:7G-1 et seq., would be advanced by a deviation from this chapter's requirements and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, subject to the provisions of § 51-20D(3)(a).
(4) 
Grant "D" variances pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d. The Zoning Board of Adjustment may only by the affirmative vote of at least five members of the Board grant a variance to allow departure from regulations in this chapter in the particular cases and for the special reasons specified below:
(a) 
To permit a use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use or principal structure pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d(1); or
(b) 
To permit an expansion of a nonconforming use pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d(2); or
(c) 
To permit a deviation from a specification or standard pertaining solely to a conditional use pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d(3); or
(d) 
To permit an increase in the permitted floor area ratio pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d(4); or
(e) 
To permit 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 pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d(5); or
(f) 
To permit a height of a principal structure which exceeds by 10 feet or 10% the maximum height permitted in the district for a principal structure pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d(6).
(5) 
If an application for development requests one or more variances but not a variance for a purpose enumerated under § 51-20D(4), the decision on the requested variance or variances shall be rendered under § 51-20D(3).
(6) 
All requests for use variances shall be governed by the standard of the most restrictive district in which said use is permitted.
E. 
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 this chapter. The developer may elect to submit a separate application requesting approval of the variance and a 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 granting 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 this chapter. The number of votes of Board members required to grant any such subsequent approval shall be as otherwise provided in this chapter for the approval in question. The application requesting approval of the variance shall be accepted as complete when the Administrative Officer determines that the information presented is clearly shown, subject to any request of the Board of Adjustment for additional information before making a decision.
F. 
No variance or other relief may be granted permitting the creation or establishment of a nonconforming use which would be prohibited in any airport safety zone pursuant to the Air Safety and Zoning Act of 1983 (N.J.S.A. 6:1-80 et seq.), except upon issuance of a permit by the Commissioner of Transportation of the State of New Jersey.
G. 
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.
H. 
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall, in addition to the powers specified in Subsection D of this section, 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.
(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.
I. 
The Zoning 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 N.J.S.A. 40:55D-37 et seq. (Article 6), 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(4) of this section.
A. 
Appeals to the Zoning Board of Adjustment may be taken by any interested party affected by any decision of an Administrative Officer of the municipality based on or made in the enforcement of this chapter or Official Map. Such appeal shall be taken within 20 days of the decision of the Administrative Officer by filing a notice of appeal with the officer from whom the appeal is taken specifying the grounds of such appeal. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall immediately transmit to the Board all papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken.
B. 
A developer may file an application for development with the Board of Adjustment for action under any of its powers without prior application to the Administrative Officer. Applications addressed to the original jurisdiction of the Board of Adjustment without prior application to an administrative officer shall be filed with the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment. Four copies of the application shall be filed. At the time of 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 plot plans, maps or other papers required by virtue of any provision of this chapter or any rule of the Board of Adjustment. The applicant shall obtain all necessary forms from the Administrative Officer, who 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 stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action in respect of which the decision appealed from was made unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the Zoning 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. 
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall, at least once each year, review its decisions on applications and appeals for variances and prepare and adopt by resolution a report on its findings on chapter provisions which were the subject of variance requests and its recommendations for chapter amendment or revision, if any. The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall send copies of its report and resolution to the governing body and the Planning Board.
In exercising the above-mentioned power, the Board of Adjustment may, in conformity with provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., or amendments thereto or subsequent statutes, apply, reverse, affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from and make such order, requirement, decisions or determination as ought to be made, and to that end have all the powers of the administrative officer from whom the appeal was taken.