No member of the Planning Board shall act on any matter in which
he or she has, either directly or indirectly, any personal or financial
interest. Whenever any such member shall disqualify himself or herself
from acting on a particular matter, he or she shall not continue to
sit with the Board on the hearing of such matter nor participate in
any discussion or decision relating thereto.
A.
Meetings of the Planning Board shall be scheduled no less often than
once a month, and any meeting so scheduled shall be held as scheduled
unless canceled for lack of applications for development to process
or for lack of a quorum.
B.
Special meetings may be provided for at the call of the Chair or
on the request of any five Board members, which shall be held on notice
to its members and the public in accordance with all applicable legal
requirements.
C.
No action shall be taken at any meeting without a quorum being present.
D.
All actions shall be taken by majority vote of the members present
at the meeting, except as otherwise required by any provision of the
Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq., or this chapter.
Failure of a motion to receive the number of votes required to approve
an application for development shall be deemed an action denying the
application.
F.
A member of a Board who was absent for one or more of the meetings
at which a hearing was held shall be eligible to vote on the matter
upon which the hearing was conducted, notwithstanding his or her absence
from one or more of the meetings; provided, however, that such Board
member has available to him or her the transcript or recording of
all the hearings from which he or she was absent and certifies in
writing or on the record to the Board that he or she has read such
transcript or listened to such recording.
G.
The Chair shall preside over all meetings and ensure the efficient
and proper conduct of same and shall be empowered to adjust the agenda.
The Chair shall also preside over all hearings and shall ensure the
efficient conduct and order of same. The Chair, with the advice of
the Board Attorney, shall make such necessary rulings as to admissibility
of witnesses and evidence presented, subject to an override by the
majority of the Board by motion. The Chair shall control the order
of questioning based upon the application being heard; however, for
applications as determined under the Municipal Land Use Law to require
a public hearing, interested parties or members of the public shall
be given at least one opportunity during the hearing to be heard and/or
cross-examine witnesses. Technical rules of evidence need not apply,
but questions and evidence may be excluded as to relevancy, hearsay,
repetitiveness, or weak reliability. The Chair, or Board Attorney
as authorized, shall be authorized to administer oaths and direct
the issuance of subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses or
production of tangible evidence for any hearing. An individual repetitively
interrupting or obstructing the efficiency of the Board's business,
or otherwise exhibiting conduct that is disorderly so as to be contumacious
during any hearing or meeting, shall be subject to removal by motion
and upon majority ruling of the Board. Basic rules of general order
shall be generally applied for all business and actions of the Board.
In the absence of the Chair, the Vice Chair shall be deemed the presiding
officer; and in both their absences, the next most senior member of
the Board shall be deemed the presiding officer; however, Class I
and Class III members shall be prohibited from being the presiding
officer.
Minutes of every regular or special meeting shall be kept and
shall include the names of the persons appearing and addressing the
Board and of the persons appearing by attorney, the action taken by
the Board, the findings, if any, made by it and reasons therefor.
The minutes shall thereafter be made available for public inspection
during normal business hours at the office of the administrative officer.
Any interested party shall have the right to compel production of
the minutes for use as evidence in any legal proceeding concerning
the subject matter of such minutes. Such interested party may be charged
a reasonable fee for reproduction of the minutes for his or her use
as provided for in the rules of the Board. Every meeting shall be
sound-recorded so as to enable any interested individual to listen
to such meeting, and a copy of such recording shall be provided to
any individual so as to allow them to make a certified transcript
of same.
