Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25(c) the Planning Board shall exercise
to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions, all the powers
of the Board of Adjustment as provided by law and other provisions
of this chapter.
A.
A Planning Board is hereby established consisting of nine (9) members
of the following four (4) classes:
(1)
Class I: The Mayor or the Mayor's designee in the absence of the
Mayor.
(2)
Class II: One (1) of the officials of the municipality, other than
a member of the Governing Body, to be appointed by the Mayor; provided
that if there is an Environmental Commission, the member of the Environmental
Commission, who is also a member of the Planning Board as required
by N.J.S.A. 40:56A-1 shall be deemed to be the Class II Planning Board
Member.
(3)
Class III: A member of the Governing Body.
(4)
Class IV: Six (6) other citizens of the municipality to be appointed
by the Mayor. The members of Class IV shall hold no other municipal
office, position or employment except that one (1) Class IV member
may be a member of the Board of Education.
B.
The term of the member composing Class I shall correspond with his
official tenure. The term of the member composing Class II and Class
III shall be for one (1) year or terminated at the completion of the
term of office, whichever occurs first, except that a Class II or
Class IV member who is also a member of the Environmental Commission
shall be for a term of three (3) years or shall terminate upon the
termination of membership on the Environmental Commission.
C.
The terms of all Class IV members first appointed pursuant to this
chapter shall be so determined that to the greatest practicable extent
the expiration of such term shall be evenly distributed over the first
four (4) years after their appointment and as determined by resolution
of the Governing Body; provided, however, that no term of any member
shall exceed four (4) years and further provided that nothing herein
shall affect the term of any present member of the Planning Board,
all of whom shall continue in office until the completion of the terms
of four (4) years except as otherwise herein provided. All terms shall
run from January 1 of the year in which the appointment was made.
D.
If a vacancy of any class shall occur otherwise than by expiration
of term, it shall be filled by appointment as above provided for the
unexpired term.
E.
The Planning Board shall elect a chairman and vice chairman from
the members of Class IV and select a secretary who may be either a
member of the Planning Board or a municipal employee designated by
it.
F.
There shall be four (4) alternate members of the Planning Board whose
terms shall be two (2) years. They shall be designated Alternate Number
One, Alternate Number Two, Alternate Number Three, and Alternate Number
Four at the time of appointment. Such alternate members shall perform
their duties as required by law. Alternate members shall have the
qualifications of Class IV members. The terms of alternate members
shall be two (2) years, except that the terms of not more than two
(2) alternate members shall expire in any one (1) year, provided that
in no instance shall the term of any alternate member exceed two (2)
years.
A.
The Planning Board shall follow the provisions of the MLUL and shall
accordingly exercise its powers in regard to:
(1)
The Master Plan.
(2)
Subdivision control and site plan review.
(3)
The Official Map.
(4)
The Zoning Ordinance including conditional uses.
(5)
Variances and certain building permits in conjunction with subdivision,
site plan and conditional use approval.
(6)
To the same extent, and subject to the same restrictions, all of
the powers of the Board of Adjustment as provided in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70
thru N.J.S.A. 40:55D-76 of the MLUL, except that Class I and Class
III members shall not participate in the consideration of applications
for development which involve relief pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70D
of the MLUL.
A.
Appeals to the Board 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 Land Development Chapter or
Official Map. Such appeal shall be taken within twenty (20) days of
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 the
papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from
was taken. (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-72)
B.
A developer may file an application for development with the Planning
Board for action under all of its powers without prior applications
to an administrative officer.
C.
Hearings.
(1)
The Planning Board shall hold a hearing on each application for a
request for site plan or subdivision approval, zoning variance, conditional
use, appeal, interpretation or direction for the issuance of a permit.
(2)
The Chairman presiding at the hearing (or such person as he may designate)
shall have power to administer oaths and issue subpoenas to compel
the attendance of witnesses and the production of relevant evidence,
including witnesses and documents presented by the parties, and the
provisions of the County and Municipal Investigations Law, P.L. 1953,
C. 38(N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.
(3)
The testimony of all witnesses relating to an application shall be
taken under oath or affirmation by the chairman, and the right of
cross-examination shall be permitted to all interested parties through
their attorneys, if represented, or directly, if not represented,
subject to the discretion of the presiding officer and to reasonable
limitations as to time and number of witnesses.
(4)
Technical rules of evidence shall not be applicable to the hearing,
but the Planning Board may exclude irrelevant, immaterial or unduly
repetitious evidence including testimony.
D.
Notice of applications (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-12)
(1)
Application of requirements. Public notice of a hearing shall be
given for the following:
(2)
Responsibilities of the Applicant.
(a)
Notice of a hearing requiring public notice pursuant to Subsection D(1) above shall be given by the applicant as follows at least ten (10) days prior to the date of the hearing:
(i)
By publication in the official newspaper of the municipality,
if there is one, or in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality.
(ii)
To all owners of real property as shown on the
current tax duplicate located within two hundred (200) feet in all
directions of the property which is the subject of the hearing, which
notice shall be given by serving a copy thereof on the property owner
as shown on the current tax duplicate or his agent in charge of the
property; or by mailing a copy thereof by certified mail to the property
owner at his address as shown on the current tax duplicate. It is
not required that a return receipt be obtained. Notice is deemed complete
upon mailing (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-14).
(iii)
Notice to a partnership owner may be made by
service upon any partner; notice to a corporate owner may be made
by service upon its president, a vice president, secretary or other
person authorized by appointment or by law to accept service on behalf
of the corporation.
(iv)
To the Clerk of any adjoining municipality or
municipalities and to the County Planning Board when the property
involved is located within two hundred (200) feet of said adjoining
municipality or municipalities, which notice shall be given by personal
service or certified mail.
(v)
To the County Planning Board when the application for development
involves property adjacent to an existing county road or proposed
road shown on the official county map or County Master Plan or adjoins
other county land.
(vi)
To the Commissioner of Transportation of the State
of New Jersey when the property abuts a state highway.
(vii)
To the Director of the Division of State and
Regional Planning in the Department of Community Affairs when the
hearing involves as application for development of property which
exceeds one hundred fifty (150) acres or five hundred (500) dwelling
units, in which case the notice shall include a copy of any maps or
documents required to be on file with the Municipal Clerk pursuant
to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-10b.
(b)
Upon the written request of an applicant and the payment of
a fee of ten ($10.00) dollars, the Borough Clerk shall make and certify
a list from said current tax duplicates of names and addresses of
owners within the Borough Avon-by-the-Sea to whom the applicant is
required to give notice. The applicant shall be entitled to rely upon
the information contained in such list, and failure to give notice
to any owner not on the list shall not invalidate any hearing or proceeding.
(Note: For the names and addresses of property owners in adjacent
municipalities, when required, contact the respective clerks).
(3)
Contents of notice. The notice shall state the date, time and place
of the hearing and the nature of the matters to be considered, and
an identification of the property proposed for development by street
address, if any, or by reference to lot and block numbers as shown
on the current tax duplicate in the Borough Tax Assessor's office,
and the location and times at which any maps or documents for which
approval is sought are available for inspection.
E.
Conflicts of interest. No member of the Planning Board shall act
on any matter in which he has either directly or indirectly any personal
or financial interest. Whenever any such member shall disqualify himself
from acting on a particular matter, he shall not continue to sit with
the Board on the hearing of such matter nor participate in any discussion
or decision relating thereto.
F.
Meetings.
(1)
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.
(2)
Special meetings may be provided for at the call of the chairman
or on the request of any two (2) Board members, which shall be held
on notice to the Board's members and the public in accordance with
all applicable legal requirements.
(3)
No action shall be taken at any meeting without a quorum being present.
(4)
All actions shall be taken by majority vote of a quorum except as
otherwise required by a provision of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
(5)
All meetings shall be open to the public. Notice of all such meetings
shall be given in accordance with the requirements of the Open Public
Meeting Law, C. 231, Laws of New Jersey, 1975.
G.
Records.
(1)
Minutes of every regular or special meeting shall be kept and shall
include the names of the persons appearing and addressing the Planning
Board and of the persons appearing by attorney, the action taken by
the Planning Board, the findings, if any, made by it and reasons therefore.
The minutes shall thereafter be made available for public inspection
during the normal business hours at the office of the Borough Clerk.
Any interested party shall have the right to compel production of
the minutes for use as evidence in any legal proceedings concerning
the subject matter of such minutes.
(2)
A verbatim recording shall be made of every hearing. The recording
of the proceedings shall be made by either stenographer, mechanical
or electronic means. The municipality shall furnish a transcript or
duplicate recording in lieu thereof on request to any interested party
at his expense.
H.
No application for any relief available under Chapter 113 shall be accepted and processed unless the applicant is current with all municipal property taxes, water or sewer fees with respect to the property that is subject of the application.
With respect to all applications made to the Planning Board,
the Secretary of the Planning Board shall check with the Municipal
Tax Collector regarding the status of the property tax, water and
sewer accounts for the subject property. If there is a delinquency,
the Secretary shall notify the applicant informing the applicant of
the amount and nature of the delinquency.
The applicant shall then have ten (10) days to pay all outstanding balances including principal, interest and any applicable fees. If full payment is made, the Secretary will process the application in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 113. If full payment is not received, the application shall be returned to the applicant with a notice that the application has been rejected for failure to comply with the terms of this section.
I.
Time to Act on Applications. The Planning Board shall act on all
development applications within the prescribed times that are provided
for in the MLUL, unless an applicant has authorized an extension for
decision of time.
A.
Any interested party may appeal to the Governing Body any final decision
of the Planning Board approving an application for development pursuant
to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d (Use Variance).
B.
Such appeal shall be made within ten (10) days of the date of publication of such final decision pursuant to Section 113-35 of this chapter. The appeal to the Governing Body shall be made by serving the Borough Clerk, in person or by certified mail, with a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof and the name and address of the appellant and name and address of his attorney, if represented. Such appeal shall be decided by the Governing Body only upon the record established before the Planning Board.
C.
Notice of the meeting to review the record below shall be given by the Governing Body by personal service or certified mail to the appellant, to those entitled to notice of a decision pursuant to Section 113-32 of this chapter and to the Board at least ten (10) days prior to the date of the meeting. The parties may submit oral and written arguments on the record at such meeting, and the Governing Body shall provide for verbatim recording and transcripts of such meeting.
D.
The Governing Body shall conclude a review of the record below not
later than ninety-five (95) days from the date or receipt of the transcript
of the hearing unless the appellant consents in writing to an extension
of such period. The appellant shall arrange for a transcript for use
by the Governing Body. Failure of the Governing Body to hold a hearing
and conclude a review of the record below and to render a decision
within such specified period without such written consent of the appellant
shall constitute a decision affirming the action of the Board. (N.J.S.A.
40:55D-17)
E.
The Governing Body may reverse, remand or affirm, wholly or in part,
or may modify the final decision of the Planning Board. The affirmative
vote or a majority of the full authorized membership of the Governing
Body shall be necessary to reverse, remand or modify any final action
to the Board.
Any decision of the Planning Board when acting upon any application
for development and any decision of the Governing Body when acting
upon an appeal shall be given notice in the following manner:
A.
A copy of the decision shall be mailed to the applicant or appellant
or, if represented, then to his attorney without charge, and for a
reasonable charge to any interested party who has requested it, not
later than ten (10) days after the date of the decision.
B.
A brief notice of the decision shall be published in the official
newspaper of the municipality if there be one or in a newspaper of
general circulation in the municipality. Such publication shall be
arranged by the Secretary of the Board and paid for by the applicant.
C.
A copy of the decision and all submitted documents of record shall
be filed with the Borough Clerk.
