[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Camden 3-27-1997 by Ord. No. MC-3298 (Ch. 451 of the 1987 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
LICENSING AUTHORITY
A municipal governing body or, in a municipality which has established a Rooming or Boarding House Site Licensing Board pursuant to § 656-2 of this chapter, the Board so established.
OPERATOR
Any person, including for the purposes of this chapter any corporation or association of persons and any agency or instrumentality of state or local government, which operates or proposes to operate a rooming or boarding house.
OWNER
The holder of title in fee simple to premises and any lessor or sublessor of whom an operator is or proposes to become a sublessor in connection with an application for a license, or for renewal thereof, pursuant to this chapter.
POPULATION
The most recent population count reported by the State Department of Labor.
ROOMING OR BOARDING HOUSE
A rooming or boarding house licensed pursuant to P.L. 1979, c. 496 (N.J.S.A. 55:13B-1 et seq.).
[Amended 5-13-1999 by Ord. No. MC-3475; 4-9-2024 by Ord. No. MC-5498]
The Camden Rooming and Boarding House Site Licensing Board, established pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:52-9 et seq. shall be the licensing authority for the City of Camden. The Board shall consist of three persons, no more than two of whom may be of the same political party, who shall be recommended by the Mayor to the City Council of the City of Camden for approval by resolution of the City Council of the City of Camden. Members shall serve for terms of three years and until their successors are appointed and qualified into office; except that of the initial three appointments, one shall be for a term of one year and one for a term of two years. Members of the municipal governing body shall be eligible for appointment to the Board. Members of the Board shall receive no salaries, but shall be entitled to reimbursement for actual expenses necessarily incurred in the performance of their duties as such members. There shall be two alternate members to the Board to serve for a term of one year. In the event of vacancies or absences, the alternate members may act in lieu of the regular members; provided, however, no alternate member shall participate in Board action if by reason of his or her participation, more than two members of the Board shall be of the same political party. Members may be removed by the appointing authority for cause. They shall not be subject to the provisions of Title 11A, Civil Service, of the New Jersey Statutes.
A. 
The licensing authority may, with the approval of the City Council, employ a Secretary, who shall receive such annual salary as shall be fixed by ordinance passed by the City Council.
B. 
The licensing authority shall be entitled to call to its assistance and avail itself of personnel and facilities of the City of Camden as it may require and as may be made available to it for that purpose.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, no rooming or boarding house shall hereafter be located or operated in the City of Camden except upon premises licensed for that purpose by the licensing authority of the municipality. Any rooming or boarding house that is in lawful operation on the date of enactment of this ordinance shall be entitled to continue in operation for one year from that date and, if the owner of the premises applies for licensure not later than the 60th day next preceding the expiration of that year, until a final determination is made upon that application.
Applications shall be made in accordance with the following procedures:
A. 
Application for a license under this chapter shall be made by the owner to the appropriate licensing authority. The application shall be in such form and shall contain such information and declarations and be accompanied by such application fee, $200, as may be prescribed by resolution of the licensing authority, and shall be filed with the Municipal Clerk or the Secretary of the Licensing Board. The form of application prescribed by the licensing authority shall require the submission of such information and supporting documentation as to provide a basis upon which the licensing authority may conduct the investigation and reach the conclusions required under this ordinance for the issuance or denial of a license. To the extent that the form of application requires the furnishing of information by the operator, it shall be the responsibility of the applicant owner to obtain such information and to exercise due care and diligence to assure its completeness and accuracy. The licensing authority may require that information required from the operator be duly sworn to by the operator in order to form a valid part of the application.
B. 
An application filed pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall include a deposit in full of the prescribed application fee, of which 90% shall be refunded if the application is denied and 10% retained and employed in defraying the expense of the licensing authority in carrying out its functions under this chapter.
C. 
All applications by natural persons, partnerships or unincorporated associations of natural persons shall be duly sworn to by each of the applicants. An application by a corporation shall be duly sworn to by the president or vice president of the corporation. All statements in an application shall be deemed material, and any person who knowingly misstates any material fact therein shall be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Former § 451-5D, which provided for notice of the pendency of the application to be published once a week for two weeks successively in a newspaper, and which immediately followed this subsection, was repealed 5-13-1999 by Ord. No. MC-3475.
It shall be the duty of the licensing authority to receive applications made pursuant to § 656-5 and to conduct such investigations as may be necessary to establish:
A. 
With respect to the premises for which a license is sought:
(1) 
That it is in compliance with all applicable zoning, building, housing, health and safety codes and regulations.
(2) 
That the location of the premises will not, in conjunction with the proximity of other rooming and boarding houses, lead to an excessive concentration of such facilities in the municipality or a particular section thereof.
B. 
With respect to the owner or owners of the premises:
(1) 
If a natural person or persons, that they are 21 years of age or older, citizens of the United States and residents of the State of New Jersey, and never convicted in this state or elsewhere of a crime involving moral turpitude or any crime under any law of the state licensing or regulating a rooming or boarding house and have never had a license required pursuant to P.L. 1979, c. 496 (N.J.S.A. 55:13B-1 et seq.) revoked.
(2) 
If a corporation, that all officers and members of the Board of Directors, and every stockholder holding 10% or more of the stock of the corporation, directly or indirectly having a beneficial interest therein, have the same qualifications as set forth in this subsection for an applicant who is a natural person.
C. 
With respect to the operator or proposed operator, that he or she meets the requirements for licensure by the State Department of Community Affairs.
D. 
That the owner and operator, either individually or jointly, have established sufficient guaranty of financial and other responsibility to assure appropriate relocation of the residents of the rooming or boarding house to suitable facilities in the event that the license is subsequently revoked or its renewal denied. The State Department of Community Affairs shall determine, in case of each type of rooming and boarding house under its jurisdiction, what constitutes suitable facilities for this purpose.
E. 
That the owner has paid all municipal property taxes due and owing on the rooming and boarding house or, in the case of an initial application, the applicant has paid all municipal property taxes due and owing on any other rooming and boarding house located within the municipality and owned by the applicant, provided that the owner has received written notice of any payment delinquency which has remained unpaid for more than 120 days. The provisions of this subsection shall not be construed as denying or limiting the rights of any displaced residents to relocation assistance in accordance with P.L. 1971, c. 362 (N.J.S.A. 20:4-1 et seq.).
[Amended 5-13-1999 by Ord. No. MC-3475]
The final determination of approval of a license rests with the Rooming and Boarding House Site Licensing Board. The Board shall vote on applications at their regularly scheduled public meeting. Publication of the meetings shall be made in accordance with the Open Public Meetings Act.[1]
A. 
No license shall be issued which would result in increasing the total number of persons authorized to be residents in rooming or boarding houses within the municipality to more than 1/2 of 1% of the municipal population; but nothing in this subsection shall warrant refusal of a license or license renewal for premises where a rooming or boarding house has been in lawful operation prior to the enactment of this chapter.
B. 
No license shall be issued for premises when any part of the boundary line of the premises is within 1,000 feet of the boundary line of any other premises for which a license is in force; this standard may be increased to 2,000 feet, at the discretion of the licensing authority; but nothing in this subsection shall warrant refusal of a license or license renewal for premises where a rooming or boarding house has been in lawful operation prior to the enactment of this chapter.
C. 
The licensing authority may refuse to grant a license for any rooming and boarding house to be situated in a neighborhood zoned as single-family residential.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq.
After the public hearing pursuant to § 656-7 the licensing authority shall determine, in accordance with the requirements under § 656-6 and, when appropriate, whether to grant the license.
A. 
A license, when issued, shall be valid for one year from the date of issuance and until such time as the licensing authority has acted upon an application for renewal, unless sooner terminated by revocation pursuant to the terms of this chapter.
B. 
Not later than the 60th day preceding the anniversary date of issuance, the holder of a license shall make application to the licensing authority for its renewal. Application for a renewal shall follow the same procedure and requirements as prescribed for a new application and shall necessitate de novo consideration and determination by the licensing authority in the same manner.
Licenses may be revoked by the licensing authority in accordance with the following:
A. 
A licensing authority may revoke a license granted under this chapter for any of the following reasons:
(1) 
A finding that there was any misstatement of material fact in the application upon which the license was issued.
(2) 
The occurrence of any fact which, had it occurred and been known by the licensing authority before issuance of the license, would have resulted in the denial of the application.
(3) 
Repeated violations, or prolonged failure to correct any violation, of any applicable building, housing, zoning, health or safety code or regulations.
(4) 
Refusal to allow access to any portion of the licensed premises at all reasonable times, with or without advance notice, in order that officers or agents of the licensing authority, or any official charged with enforcement within the municipality of any building, housing, zoning, health or safety code, may determine compliance with such codes and regulations.
(5) 
Revocation by the State Department of Community Affairs of the operator's license or other authorization to operate a rooming or boarding house on the premises.
(6) 
Notification by the Department of Community Affairs that the premises is not or is no longer suitable for operation of a rooming or boarding house on the premises.
(7) 
Failure or refusal to comply with any lawful regulation or order of the licensing authority.
B. 
A license shall not be revoked until five days' prior notice of the grounds therefor has been served upon the licensee, either personally or by certified mail addressed to the licensee at the licensed premises, and a reasonable opportunity given to the licensee to be heard thereon.
Upon determination by a licensing authority to refuse the granting or renewal of a license, or to revoke a license, the licensee affected shall be entitled to appeal to the State Commissioner of Community Affairs for a review of that determination; and the Commissioner shall have authority to reverse the licensing authority's determination if it concludes that the application was improperly denied or the revocation improperly imposed. Such review by the Commissioner shall be in conformity with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, P.L. 1968, c. 410 (N.J.S.A. 52:14B-1 et seq.). The decision of the Commissioner in such cases shall be subject to the appeal to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. If an applicant for license renewal has made timely and sufficient application for a renewal in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the rules of the licensing authority pursuant thereto, his or her license shall not expire until any appeals under this section have been finally determined and disposed of.
A. 
Unless otherwise provided for in any other section of this chapter, any person or entity who violates any provision of this chapter shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000 or by imprisonment for a time not exceeding 90 days or community service not exceeding 100 hours, or combination thereof.
B. 
A separate offense shall be deemed committed on each and every day for each and every violation of this chapter.
C. 
A separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day during or on which a violation or violations occur or continue.
D. 
The imposition of a fine or imprisonment as punishment for a violation of any provision of this chapter shall not be deemed to be in lieu of any provision of this chapter providing for the revocation or suspension of any license issued under this chapter or issued by the State Department of Community Affairs.