A. 
There shall be a City Planning Board appointed by the Mayor. The Board shall have all the powers and be subject to all the duties of Article 3 of the General City Law.
B. 
The Board shall be composed of five members, at least three of whom must have substantial experience in one or more fields related to land use, including, but not limited to, engineering, architecture, real estate, law, surveying, or other profession or experience related to land use.
C. 
Members shall be appointed to serve for a term of five years, except that the Mayor as necessary shall appoint a member to serve for less than a full term in order to equalize as near as practicable the number of appointments to be made each year. If a vacancy shall occur, other than by expiration of term, the Mayor may at any time fill the vacancy for the balance of the unexpired term remaining at the time of the new appointment. Each member of the Board shall hold over after the expiration of his or her term until a successor shall have been duly appointed and qualified. Before assuming office, each member of the Board shall file in the Office of the City Clerk the constitutional oath of office.
D. 
No member of the City Council shall be eligible for membership on the Board and not more than a minority of the members of the Board shall hold any other public office or position in the City. Any municipal official serving on the Board shall not by reason of membership thereon forfeit the right to exercise the powers, perform the duties, or receive the compensation of their municipal office during such membership. But no municipal officer or employee shall be appointed to the Planning Board if performance of the duties of his or her position will conflict with the performance of his or her duties as a member of the Board. No person shall be disqualified from serving as a member of the City Planning Board by reason of serving as a member of a county planning board.
E. 
The Mayor may remove any member of the Board for cause.
The City Council may make such appropriation as it deems fit for Planning Board expenses, including the compensation of Planning Board members. The Planning Board shall have the power and authority to employ experts, clerks, and a secretary, and to pay for their services, and to provide for such other expenses as may be necessary and proper, but in no case exceeding in all the appropriation that may be made therefor by the City Council.
A. 
There shall be two alternate members of the City Planning Board. An alternate shall substitute for a member in the event the member is unable to participate because of a conflict of interest. Each alternate member of the Planning Board shall be appointed by the Mayor to serve for a term of three years. Alternate members shall be paid one-half of the regular compensation of members.
B. 
The Chairperson of the Planning Board may designate an alternate member to substitute for a member when the member is unable to participate because of a conflict of interest concerning an application or matter before the Board. When so designated, the alternate member shall possess all the powers and responsibilities of a member of the Board for that application or matter. Such designation shall be entered into the minutes of the initial Planning Board meeting at which the substitution is made.
C. 
All provisions of this chapter relating to Planning Board member training and continuing education, attendance, conflict of interest, compensation, eligibility, filing of oath, vacancy in office, holding over, removal, compatibility of office, and service on other boards, shall also apply to alternate members.
The terms of the members of the Planning Board first appointed shall be so fixed that the term of one member shall expire at the end of the official year in which such member was initially appointed. The terms of the remaining members first appointed shall be so fixed that one term shall expire at the end of each official year thereafter. At the expiration of the term of each member first appointed, his or her successor shall be appointed for a term of five years.
A. 
The Planning Board shall elect a Chairperson annually from its own members. In the absence of the Chairperson, Board members may designate a member to serve as acting Chairperson.
B. 
The Planning Board shall be entitled to the assistance of the City Engineer and the legal advice of the Corporation Counsel. The City Engineer shall attend meetings and act as Executive Secretary to the Board. The Corporation Counsel, or his or her designee, shall attend meetings and act as legal advisor to the Board.
C. 
The Board shall meet at least once a month. The Board also shall meet at the call of the Chairman, or whenever a majority of the authorized membership, not including alternate members, request the Chairman to call a meeting. Written notice of Planning Board meetings shall be given no less than seven calendar days before a meeting. A majority of the authorized membership of the Board, not including alternate members, shall constitute a quorum.
D. 
Unless the affirmative vote of a super majority is required by law, every motion or resolution of the Planning Board shall require for its adoption the affirmative vote of a majority of the authorized membership of the Board, not including alternate members.
E. 
The Board shall keep regular minutes of the business transacted at each meeting. At the conclusion of each year, the Board shall report to the Mayor, in writing, regarding its activities and may provide any recommendations it desires to make.
A. 
Each member of the Planning Board shall complete, at a minimum, four hours of land use training each year. Up to two hours of training received by a member in excess of four hours in any one year may be carried over by the member into the succeeding year or may be applied to the immediately preceding year in order to meet the requirements of this subdivision. Training shall be subject to approval of the City Council and may include, but not be limited to, training provided by a municipality, regional or county planning office or commission, county planning federation, state agency, statewide municipal association, college, or other similar entity. Training may be provided in a variety of formats, including but not limited to electronic media, video, distance learning, and traditional classroom training.
B. 
No member shall be eligible for reappointment to the Planning Board unless the member shall have completed the training required by this subdivision.
C. 
The training required by this subdivision may be waived or modified by resolution of the City Council when, in the judgment of the Council, it is in the best interest of the City to do so.
D. 
No decision of the Planning Board shall be voided or declared invalid because of a failure to comply with this subdivision.
E. 
Members of the Planning Board are expected to attend all regular monthly meetings of the Board. Failure to attend two or more consecutively scheduled meetings, or non-attendance at three or more meetings in a calendar year, or other recurring non-attendance shall be cause for removal by the Mayor.
Any member of the Board may be removed by the Mayor for cause, after written notice and public hearing. "Cause" includes, but is not limited to, misconduct, incompetence, failure to attend two or more consecutively scheduled meetings, non-attendance at more than three meetings in a calendar year, recurring non-attendance at meetings, failure to complete mandatory training requirements, or other neglect of duty.
In addition to its other authority and powers, the Planning Board is hereby authorized and empowered to examine any and all subdivisions and developments within this municipality that have been recorded in the County Clerk's office without the approval of the City Planning Board or Commission (as the case may be) since April 20, 1945, which subdivisions have lots therein which are occupied by structures, to the extent of 10% or less of the total area of the subdivision. The Planning Board shall reexamine such subdivisions and developments and treat them as new subdivisions, making such changes in streets and other facilities that it deems best for the public health, safety, and general welfare, where in its judgment such changes may be effected without working undue hardship upon any individual person.
A. 
The Planning Board may recommend to the City Council rules and regulations relating to any subject matter over which the Board has jurisdiction and which it shall deem proper for the administration of the Board and the matters before it. The City Council may adopt any such rules and regulations by duly enacted ordinance.
B. 
With the advice of the Board, the City Council shall adopt rules and regulations governing the subdivision of land.
(1) 
Such regulations shall require that the land shown on a plat shall be of such a character that it can be used safely for building purposes without danger to health or peril from fire, flood or other menace and may provide for the proper arrangement and width of streets in relation to other existing or planned streets, and to an adopted Comprehensive Plan, for adequate, convenient and suitable open spaces for traffic, utilities, access of fire-fighting apparatus, recreation, light and air, and for the avoidance of congestion of population, including minimum width and area of lots.
(2) 
As conditions precedent to the approval of a plat, such regulations shall provide the extent to which streets, roads, highways and other public places shall be graded and improved and to which water, sewer and other utility mains, piping or other facilities, sidewalks, curbs, gutters, street signs and lighting standards shall be installed, in accordance with standards, specifications and procedures of the City Engineer, and that suitable monuments be placed at such block corners and other points as may be required by the Planning Board or the City Engineer.
(3) 
Such regulations shall provide for the tentative approval of the plat previous to such installation, but any such tentative approval shall be revocable and shall not be entered on the plat. In lieu of the completion of such improvements and utilities prior to the final approval of the plat, the Planning Board may accept a bond with surety to secure to the City the actual construction and installation of such improvements or utilities and the reasonable cost of inspection on behalf of the Planning Board during such construction, at a time and according to specifications fixed by the Planning Board and in accordance with its regulations.
(a) 
If any public utility company's facilities are proposed to be installed within a subdivision, the subdivider shall file with the Board satisfactory assurance that such utility company will make the installations necessary for the furnishing of its services within the time frame satisfactory to the Planning Board. The Board in its discretion may waive the bond as to the utility to be furnished.
(b) 
The term of such bond may be extended by the Planning Board with the consent of the parties thereto.
(c) 
If the Planning Board shall decide at any term of the said bond that the extent of building development which has taken place in the subdivision is not sufficient to warrant all the improvements covered by such bond or that required improvements have been installed as provided in this section and in sufficient amount to warrant reduction in the face amount of said bond, the Planning Board, after public hearing upon the same notice as required for the consideration of a plat, may modify its requirements for any or all such improvements, and the face amount of such bond shall thereupon be reduced by an appropriate amount so that the new face amount will cover the cost in full of the amended list of improvements required by the Planning Board, and any security deposited with the bond may be reduced proportionately.
(4) 
In the event that any required improvements have not been installed as provided in this section within the term of such performance bond, the Mayor upon recommendation of the Board shall thereupon declare the said performance bond to be in default. The City shall enforce such bond by all appropriate legal and equitable remedies.
(a) 
Upon the receipt of any sums of money collected upon said bond, the City shall install such improvements as were covered thereby and are commensurate with the extent of building development that has taken place in the subdivision but not exceeding in cost the amount of such monies so received.
(b) 
In the event that any required improvements have been commenced or are being installed in violation of the provisions of the resolution of the Planning Board approving the plat or are not in accordance with the specifications of the Planning Board's regulations as established by ordinance of the City Council, the City, in addition to other remedies, shall institute an appropriate action or proceeding to restrain, correct, or abate such violation.
C. 
It is intended by this chapter to grant to the City Planning Board all the powers necessary for guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted, and harmonious development of the City which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote health, safety, and the general welfare as well as efficiency and economy in the progress of development. The Planning Board may vary, subject to appropriate conditions, such requirements of the regulations established as provided in this section as in its judgment of the special circumstances and conditions relating to a particular plat that are not requisite in the interest of the public health, safety, and general welfare. When making its determination as to the improvements to be required, the Planning Board shall take into consideration the prospective character of the development and the allowed density of population under the applicable zoning ordinance. The Planning Board shall also hear and decide all matters upon which it is required to pass under such regulations. In addition, and subject to City Council approval, the Board shall adopt rules and regulations in respect to procedures before it and in respect to any subject matter over which it has jurisdiction, such rules not to be inconsistent with law.
The rules and regulations of the Board and the City Map and Comprehensive Plan shall be deemed public records and shall be open to public inspection at all reasonable times in the office of the Planning Board.