[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Eatontown 8-25-2021 by Ord. No. 23-2021.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 106, Boardinghouses, adopted 7-23-1969 as Ch. 18 of the 1969 Code.
The purpose of this chapter is to protect the public health and welfare by licensing rooming houses and boardinghouses, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:52-10.
As used in this in chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated:
LICENSING AUTHORITY
The Borough Council of the Borough of Eatontown.
OPERATOR
Any person, including for the purposes of this chapter, any corporation or association of persons or any agency or instrumentality of state or local government, which operates or proposes to operate a rooming house or boardinghouse.
OWNER
The holder of title in fee simple to premises and any lessor or sublessor of whom an operator is or proposes to become a sublessor in connection with an application for a license, or renewal thereof, pursuant to this section.
POPULATION
The most recent population count reported by the Department of Labor.
ROOMING HOUSE or BOARDINGHOUSE
A rooming house or boardinghouse licensed pursuant to N.J.S.A. 55:13B-1 et seq. A rooming house is further defined as a boardinghouse wherein no personal nor financial services are provided to the residents [N.J.S.A. 55:13B-3(h)]. It shall include all classes of premises applying for a license as defined in N.J.A.C. 5:27-6.
A. 
Except as provided in Subsection B of this section, no rooming house or boardinghouse shall hereafter be located or operated in the Borough except upon premises licensed for that purpose by the licensing authority.
B. 
Any rooming house or boardinghouse that is in lawful operation on the date of enactment of this section shall be entitled to continue in operation for one year from the date of enactment and, if the owner of the premises applies for licensure not later than the 60th day next preceding the expiration of that year, until a final determination is made upon that application.
Application for a license under this section shall be made to the Council. The application shall be by a form which can be obtained from the Borough Clerk.
A. 
The application must be accompanied by an application fee of $200 as prescribed by resolution. The application shall be filed with the Municipal Clerk, who will be required to place the application upon the agenda of the next available meeting of the Council.
B. 
The form of application shall require the submission of information and supporting documentation, which will provide a basis upon which the Council may conduct the investigation and reach the conclusions required under this section for the issuance or denial of a license.
C. 
It shall be the responsibility of the applicant/owner to obtain information required by this application and to exercise due care and diligence to insure its completeness and accuracy.
D. 
All information required from the operator must be duly sworn to by the operator in order to form a valid part of the application.
E. 
If the application filed pursuant to this section is denied, 90% of the application fee shall be refunded to the applicant, and 10% retained by the Borough in defraying the expenses of the licensing authority in carrying out its functions under this section.
F. 
All applications by a natural person, partnership or unincorporated association of natural persons shall be duly sworn to by each of the applicants. An application by a corporation shall be duly sworn to by the President or Vice President of the corporation. All statements in the application shall be deemed material, and any person who knowingly misstates any material fact therein shall be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree.
G. 
Each application shall designate an operator/manager of the premises. That person must meet the requirements for licensure by the NJ Department of Community Affairs and requirements for licensure of a natural person. There shall be a $25 fee for a background check on the designated operator/manager. Said fee will apply each time the operator/manager changes.
Every applicant for a license shall, after filing the application, cause notice of the pendency of the application to be published once per week for two weeks successively in a newspaper, printed in the English language, published and circulated in Monmouth County. The notice shall include the time and place of the public hearing before the Council, the name of the owner of the premises, the name of the operator of the boardinghouse, the name of the boardinghouse, the address of the boardinghouse, and the business name of the boardinghouse. The second publication thereof shall be made not less than one week nor more than two weeks prior to the date for the public hearing.
The Borough Administrator shall, upon receipt of application, cause the following inspections to take place:
A. 
With respect to the premises for which a license is sought:
(1) 
That they are in compliance with all applicable building, housing, health and safety codes and regulations;
(2) 
That the location of the premises will not, in conjunction with the proximity of other rooming and boardinghouses, lead to an excessive concentration of such facilities in the municipality or a particular section thereof;
B. 
With respect to the owner or owners of the premises:
(1) 
If a natural person or persons, that he or they are 21 years of age or older, citizens of the United States and residents of the State of New Jersey, and never convicted, in this state or elsewhere, of a crime involving moral turpitude, or of any crime under any law of this state licensing or regulating rooming houses or boardinghouses, and have never had a license required pursuant to P.L. 1979, c. 496 (N.J.S.A. 55:13B-1 et seq.) revoked;
(2) 
If a corporation, that all officers and members of the Board of Directors, and every stockholder holding 10% or more of the stock of the corporation, directly or indirectly having a beneficial interest therein, have the same qualifications as set forth in this subsection for an applicant who is a natural person;
C. 
With respect to the operator or proposed operator, that he meets the requirements for licensure by the Department of Community Affairs; and
D. 
That the owner and operator, either individually or jointly, shall have established sufficient guarantee of financial and other responsibility to assure appropriate relocation of the residents of the rooming house and boardinghouse to suitable facilities in the event that the licensure is subsequently revoked or its renewal denied. The Department of Community Affairs shall determine in the case of each type of rooming house and boardinghouse under this jurisdiction, what constitutes suitable facilities for this purpose. Said guarantee of financial responsibility shall be in the form of a surety bond in favor of the Borough. The amount for said bond shall be determined by the Borough Administrator at the time of the hearing on the application, by multiplying the number of the maximum allowable licensed beds at the rooming house and boardinghouse in question by the maximum relocation costs allowed by the Department of Community Affairs (including both the maximum moving expenses and rental assistance allowed by the Department) and then by adding an additional 10% of said total for administrative costs and expenses in the event of relocation. Said bond shall be in form and substance acceptable to the Borough Attorney and for a period of one year.
E. 
An inspection performed by a municipal enforcement agent under a contractual agreement with the Department of Community Affairs pursuant to N.J.S.A. 55:13B-1 et seq., and may be deemed the licensing authority to satisfy the investigation requirements of this section; such inspection shall be performed by and be under the jurisdiction of the licensing authority.
The Council shall hold a public hearing, at which the applicant, the operator or proposed operator and all other parties in interest, including members of the general public, shall be entitled to be heard upon the merits of the application and the suitability of the premises proposed for licensing. The time and place of the public hearing shall be determined within 30 days of receipt of the application and shall be communicated to the applicant in sufficient time to enable compliance with the publication requirement of this section.
A. 
No license shall be issued which would result in increasing the total number of persons authorized to be residents in rooming and boardinghouses within the Borough to more than 100 people; but nothing in this subsection shall warrant refusal of a license or license renewal for premises where a rooming house or boardinghouse has been in lawful operation prior to the enactment of this section.
B. 
No license shall be issued for premises when any part of the boundary line of the premises is within 1,000 feet of the boundary line of any other premises for which a license is in force; but nothing in this subsection shall warrant refusal of a license or license renewal for premises where a rooming house or boardinghouse has been in lawful operation prior to the enactment of this section.
C. 
No license shall be issued until all real estate taxes, sewer, water and all other municipal liens and charges are current up to and including the quarter within which the application shall take place. The applicant will be disqualified for applying for a license until all aforementioned charges are brought current.
D. 
Owner or owners of the premises shall never have had a license required pursuant to N.J.S.A. 55:13B-1 et seq., revoked.
E. 
Except as otherwise provided in the Rehabilitated Convicted Offenders Act (N.J.S.A. 2A:168A–1 et seq.), no license shall be issued to any person who has at any time been convicted of forgery, embezzlement, obtaining money under false pretenses, extortion, criminal conspiracy to defraud, crimes against the person or other like offense or offenses, or to any partnership of which such person is a member, or to any association or corporation of which said person is an officer, director or employee or in which as a stockholder such person has or exercises a controlling interest either directly or indirectly.
F. 
No license shall be issued to any person if the Council determines that the issuance of a license to such person would be contrary to the best interests of the residents of any rooming house or boardinghouse or of the public generally.
G. 
No owner shall employ any person not licensed as an operator to operate any rooming house or boardinghouse. A separate operator shall be required for every building occupied by residents other than an accessory building.
H. 
No license shall be issued to any person who has previously been denied a license by either the Department of Health or the Department of Human Services for reason of personal unfitness or who has had a license revoked by either the Department of Health or the Department of Human Services.
I. 
No license shall be issued to, or shall continue to be held by, any person, who, in a final adjudication by a court of record or by the Division on Civil Rights, has been found to have discriminated against any resident or prospective resident on the basis of race, color, creed, national origin or ancestry.
J. 
A Class D license shall specify the type of facility for which it is issued. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, any service which may be provided under a Class C license may be provided under a Class D license, and any facility operated under a Class D license shall conform to all standards that would be applicable to the facility were it operated under a Class C license.
K. 
No license to own or operate a boardinghouse shall be issued to, or shall be continued to be held by, any person who has not completed a training course approved by the Department of Community Affairs. This subsection shall not apply to persons holding or applying for only Class A (rooming house) licenses or Class F (cooperative sober living residence) licenses and shall only be effective so long as there exists a training program funded by the Department of Human Services.
L. 
No license to operate a rooming house or boardinghouse shall be issued prior to receipt of a certification that the building does not have any outstanding violations of the Uniform Fire Code, N.J.A.C. 5:70.
M. 
No person shall own or operate a rooming house or boardinghouse that offers or advertises or holds itself out as offering personal care services to residents with special needs, including, but not limited to, persons with Alzheimer's disease and related disorders or other forms of dementia, hold out a building as available for rooming house or boardinghouse occupancy for such residents, or apply for any necessary construction or planning approvals related to the establishment of a rooming house or boardinghouse for such residents without first having a Class C or Class D license with an endorsement allowing such services to be offered and provided at the facility.
A. 
After the public hearing, the licensing authority shall determine, in accordance with the requirements of this chapter, whether to grant the license. A license when issued shall be valid for one year from the date of issuance and until such time as the licensing authority has acted upon an application for renewal, unless sooner terminated by revocation pursuant to the terms of this section.
B. 
Not later than the 60th day preceding the anniversary date of issuance, the holder of a license shall make application to the licensing authority for its renewal. Application for a renewal shall follow the same procedure and requirements as prescribed for a new application and shall necessitate de novo consideration and determination by the licensing authority in the same manner as a new application.
The licensing authority may revoke a license granted under this chapter for any of the following reasons:
A. 
A finding that there was any misstatement of material fact in the application upon which the license was issued.
B. 
The occurrence of any fact which, had it occurred and been known to the licensing authority before the issuance of the license, would have resulted in the denial of the application.
C. 
Repeated violations, or prolonged failure to correct any violation, of any applicable building, housing, health or safety code or regulations for at least 60 days.
D. 
Refusal to allow access to any portion of the licensed premises at all reasonable time, with or without advance notice, in order that officers or agents of the licensing authority, or any official charged with enforcement within the municipality of any building, housing, health or safety code or regulations applicable to the premises may determine compliance with such codes or regulations.
E. 
Revocation by the Department of Community Affairs of the operator's license or other authorization to operate a rooming house or boardinghouse on the premises.
F. 
Notification by the Department of Community Affairs that the premises are not or are no longer suitable for operation of a rooming house or boardinghouse on the premises.
G. 
Failure or refusal to comply with any lawful regulation or order of the licensing authority.
H. 
A determination by the licensing authority that the issuance or renewal of a license to such a person would be contrary to the best interests of the residents of any rooming house or boardinghouse or the public generally based upon the regulations and conditions set forth in this chapter.
A license shall not be revoked until five days' prior notice of the grounds therefor has been served upon the licensee, either personally or by certified mail addressed to the licensee at the licensed premises, and a reasonable opportunity given to the licensee to be heard thereon.
Upon determination by the licensing authority to refuse the granting or renewal of a license, or to revoke a license, the licensee affected shall be entitled to appeal to the Commissioner of Community Affairs for a review of that determination. Said appeal is to be filed within 30 days of a final decision of the licensing authority. Said appeal to be filed, in writing, with the Director of Licensing and inspections; the Commissioner shall have the authority to reverse the licensing authorities determination if it concludes that the application was improperly denied, or the revocation improperly imposed. Such review shall be in conformity with the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act, P.L. 1968, c. 410 (N.J.S.A. 52:14B-1 et seq.). The decision of the Commissioner in such cases shall be subject to appeal to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. If an applicant for a license renewal has made timely and sufficient application for a renewal in accordance with the provisions of this section, and the rules of the licensing pursuant thereto, his license shall not expire until any appeals under this section have been finally determined and disposed of.
The licensing authority shall be the Borough Council. All decisions of the licensing authority shall be by a majority of the quorum present for the public hearing as prescribed by subsection.
Any person, firm or corporation who violates or neglects to comply with any provision of this chapter or any rule, regulation or directive promulgated pursuant thereto shall be penalized, following a hearing before the Borough Administrator, by a civil penalty of not less than $50 and not to exceed $5,000. The licensee may appeal to the Department of Community Affairs as set forth in § 106-12.
A. 
There shall be an annual inspection for each rentable room enumerated on license to own and/or operate a rooming house or boardinghouse issued by the licensing authority.
B. 
The initial annual inspection fee shall be $30 per rentable room, regardless of the number of changes in tenancy. During the initial annual inspection, the entire property will be inspected, including all common areas, and the exterior of the property.
C. 
Any reinspection will require the fee of $20 per rental room requiring reinspection, $50 for the reinspection of any common area and a $50 reinspection fee for the exterior of the property.