Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69 and the amendments
thereof and supplements thereto, a Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby
created. The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall constitute a continuation
of the Zoning Board of Adjustment in existence at the time of passage
of this chapter.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall have the following powers
and duties:
A. To hear and decide appeals where it is alleged by the appellant that there is an error in any order, requirement, decision or refusal made by an administrative officer based on or made in the enforcement of Chapter
360, Zoning. The Board may reverse, affirm, wholly or in part, or may modify any order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from and, to that end, shall have all the powers of the administrative officer from whom appeal was taken.
B. To hear and decide requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map or Chapter
360, Zoning, or to make decisions on other special questions upon which the Board is authorized to pass by any zoning or official Township map ordinance adopted in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
C. Where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or slope 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 structure lawfully existing thereon, the strict application of any regulation pursuant to Chapter
360, Zoning, would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties or exceptional and undue hardship upon the developer of such property, to grant, upon an application or an appeal relating to such property, a variance from such strict application of such regulation so as to relieve such difficulties or hardship; or where, in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property, the purposes of Chapter
360, Zoning, would be advanced by a deviation from the requirements of Chapter
360, Zoning, and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, to grant a variance to allow departure from the regulations of Chapter
360, Zoning, provided that no use variance 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 N.J.S.A. 40:55D-60a.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
D. In particular cases and for special reasons, to grant a variance to allow departure from the regulations of Chapter
360, Zoning, to permit a use or principal structure in a district restricted against such use or principal structure; an expansion of a nonconforming use; deviation from a specification or standard pertaining solely to a conditional use; an increase in the permitted floor area ratio; an increase in density, except as applicable to the required lot area for a lot or lots for detached one- or two-dwelling-unit buildings, which lot(s) is either an isolated undersized lot or a lot resulting from a minor subdivision; and a height of a principal structure which exceeds by 10 feet or 10% the maximum height permitted in the district for a principal structure. A variance under this subsection shall be granted only by an affirmative vote of 2/3 of the full authorized membership of the Board. No variance or other relief may be granted under the terms of this subsection unless such variance or other relief can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and will not substantially impair the intent and the purpose of the zone plan and Chapter
360, Zoning.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General
Provisions, Art. I)]
E. To grant, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning Board, subdivision or site plan approval or conditional use approval pursuant to Chapter
360, Zoning, whenever the proposed development requires approval by the Zoning Board of Adjustment of a variance pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d.
F. To direct the issuance of a permit
for a building or structure:
(1) In the bed of a mapped street
or public drainageway, flood control basin or public area reserved
on the Official Township Map (pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-34).
(2) Not related to a street (pursuant
to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36).
No variance or other relief may be granted under the provisions of this chapter unless such variance or other relief can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and will not substantially impair the intent and purpose of the zone plan and Chapter
360, Zoning.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall follow the procedures outlined
in this chapter for public hearings whenever a hearing shall be required.