There is hereby established in the Borough a Planning Board of nine members with four alternates pursuant to the Municipal Land Use Law,[1] as follows:
A. 
Class I: The Mayor of the Borough, or the Mayor's designee in the absence of the Mayor.
B. 
Class II: One of the officials of the Borough, other than a member of the Borough Council, to be appointed by the Mayor. If the Zoning Officer is appointed the Class II member, the Zoning Officer shall not participate in the consideration of appeals of the Zoning Officer for development which involve relief pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d.
C. 
Class III: A member of the Borough Council to be appointed by the Borough Council.
D. 
Class IV: Six citizens of the Borough to be appointed by the Mayor.
(1) 
The members of Class IV shall hold no other Borough office, position or employment, except that one such member may be a member of the Board of Education.
(2) 
For the purpose of this qualification, membership on a Borough board or commission whose function is advisory in nature, and the establishment of which is discretionary and not required by statute, shall not be considered as holding of Borough office.
(3) 
All members of the Board, except for the Class II member, shall be municipal residents.
E. 
There shall be four alternate members of the Board appointed by the Mayor who shall be municipal residents. Alternate members shall meet the qualifications of Class IV members of the Board. Alternate members shall be designated at the time of appointment by the Mayor as "Alternate No. 1," "Alternate No. 2," "Alternate No. 3," and "Alternate No. 4."
F. 
Neither the Class I member or his/her designated alternate nor the Class III member shall participate in the consideration of applications for development which involve relief pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d. As it relates to such applications, only Class II and Class IV members of the Board or alternates shall participate in such deliberations.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
The terms of office for Board members shall be as follows:
A. 
The term of the Class I member shall correspond to his/her official tenure in office.
B. 
The term of the Class II and Class III members shall be for one year or terminate at the completion of their respective terms of office, whichever occurs first.
C. 
The term of a Class IV member who is also a member of the Board of Education shall terminate when he/she is no longer a member of such other body or at the completion of his/her Class IV term, whichever occurs first.
D. 
The term of all Class IV members shall be for four years, except as provided otherwise herein.
E. 
The term of alternate members shall be for two years. The term of not more than two alternate members shall expire in any one year.
F. 
All terms shall run from January 1 of the year in which the appointment is made, except as otherwise provided under Subsection H.
G. 
Nothing contained herein shall affect the terms of any present members of the Board, all of whom shall continue as members until the completion of the terms for which they were appointed.
H. 
Vacancies. A vacancy in any Board position, including alternate members, occurring otherwise than by expiration of the member's term shall be filled for the unexpired term only. Appointment of members to fill vacant positions shall be as provided in this Part 1.
I. 
Removal of members. Any member or alternate member, other than the Class I member of the Board, after a public hearing if requested by the member, may be removed by the governing body for cause.
The Board Chairperson may appoint from among the members of the Board any such committees as the Chairperson may deem advisable in carrying out the functions of the Board.
The Mayor may appoint one or more persons as a Citizens Advisory Committee to assist or collaborate with the Board in its duties. Such person(s) shall have no power to vote or take other action required of the Board. Such person(s) shall serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.
The Board shall follow the provisions of the Municipal Land Use Law[1] and this chapter, and accordingly shall have authority to:
A. 
Prepare, adopt, and amend a master plan or component part thereof.
B. 
Exercise control over and review and approve or disapprove in whole or in part subdivisions, site plans and conditional uses, including all variances and building permits.
C. 
Exercise control over and review and approve or disapprove all variances, whether or not the development which is the subject of such variance(s) requires subdivision, site plan or conditional use approval.
D. 
Exercise informal review of conceptual development plans.
E. 
Recommend to the governing body the adoption or amendment of development regulations and an official map.
F. 
Direct the issuance of building permits for buildings or structures in certain areas shown on an official map.
G. 
Direct the issuance of building permits for buildings or structures on a lot not related to a street.
H. 
Recommend to the governing body concerning the relationship of capital projects to the Master Plan.
I. 
Prepare a capital improvements program, if authorized by the governing body.
J. 
Participate in the preparation and review of programs or plans required by state or federal law or regulation.
K. 
Assemble data on a continuing basis as part of a continuous planning process.
L. 
Make recommendations to the governing body and/or any housing, parking, highway, special district or other authority, redevelopment agency, school board or other similar public agency, state, county or Borough, concerning the relationship of capital projects to the Master Plan pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-31.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
The Planning Board of the Borough of Kenilworth shall exercise, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions, all the powers of the former Zoning Board of Adjustment.
The Planning Board shall have the power to:
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 the administrative officer based on or made in enforcement of this chapter.
B. 
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map or this chapter, or for decisions upon other special questions upon which the Planning Board is authorized to pass by this chapter.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
C. 
Grant a variance from the strict application of a regulation, upon an application or an appeal, so as to relieve difficulties or hardships:
(1) 
Where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or shape of a specific piece of property; or by reason of exceptional topographic conditions or physical features uniquely affecting a specific piece of property; or by reason of an extraordinary and exceptional situation uniquely affecting a specific piece of property or the structures lawfully existing thereon, the strict application of any zoning regulation would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties to, or exceptional and undue hardship upon, the developer of such property; or
(2) 
Where in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property the purposes of this chapter set forth in this Part 1 would be advanced by deviation from the requirements of Part 3, Zoning, and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, grant a variance to allow the departure from zoning regulations; provided, however, that no variance from those departures enumerated in Subsection D shall be granted under this subsection; and provided, further, 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 has power to review a request for a variance pursuant to this Part 1.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. II)]
D. 
Other variances.
(1) 
Grant a variance to allow a deviation from the requirements of this chapter, in particular cases and for special reasons, to permit:
(a) 
A use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use or principal structure;
(b) 
An expansion of a nonconforming use;
(c) 
Deviation from a specification or standard pertaining solely to a conditional use;
(d) 
An increase in the permitted floor area ratio;
(e) 
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; or
(f) 
A height of a principal structure which exceeds by 10 feet or 10% the maximum height permitted in the district for a principal structure.
(2) 
A variance under this Subsection D shall be granted only by the affirmative vote of at least five members.
E. 
Report on variances. Prepare annually a report for the Mayor and Borough Council based upon its review of its decisions on applications and appeals for variances during the previous year. The report shall be adopted by resolution of the Board not later than March 1 of each year, and shall comment on the zoning regulations which were the subject of variance requests, and shall make recommendations for any amendments to the zoning regulations that the Board may deem appropriate based upon prior variance applications.