Former Section 181-602, Establishment of the Zoning Board of
Adjustment was repealed in its entirety by Ordinance No. 1512-2013
which created a Land Use Board to exercise all powers and duties of
a planning board and board of adjustment.
The Land Use Board acting as the Zoning Board of Adjustment
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 the
Development Review Ordinance.
B. Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map or
Development Review Ordinance or for decisions upon other special questions
upon which the Board is authorized to pass on any Zoning or Official
Map Ordinance.
C. Grant a variance from the strict application of a regulation, upon
an application or an appeal, so as to relieve difficulties or hardships.
D. 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
E. Where in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of
property the purposes of the Municipal Land Use Law and this Ordinance
set forth in Article would be advanced by deviation from the Development
Review Ordinance requirements 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 the following subsection shall
be granted under this section; 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.
F. Grant a variance to allow a departure from the zoning regulations,
in particular cases and for special reasons to permit:
G. A use or principal structure in a district restricted against such
use or principal structure;
H. An expansion of a non-conforming use;
I. Deviation from a specification or standard pertaining solely to a
conditional use;
J. An increase in the permitted floor area ratio;
K. 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
L. A height of a principal structure that exceeds by 10 feet or 10%
the maximum height permitted in the district for a principal structure.
M. A variance under this subsection shall be granted only by the affirmative
vote of at least five members.
N. The Land Use Board acting as the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall,
at least once a year, review its decisions on applications and appeals
for variances and prepare and adopt by resolution a report of its
findings on Land Development Ordinance provisions which were the subject
of variance requests and its recommendations for Land Development
Ordinance amendment or revision, if any. The Land Use Board acting
as the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall send copies of the report
and resolution to the Township Committee.