A.
A Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby established
pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69 et seq., consisting of seven residents
of the Township of Saddle Brook appointed by the Township Council
to serve for terms of four years from July 1 of the year of their
appointment. The terms of the members first appointed shall be so
determined that, to the greatest practicable extent, the expiration
of such terms shall be distributed evenly over the first four years
after their appointment, provided that the initial term of no member
shall exceed four years. Thereafter the term of each member shall
be for four years. Nothing in this chapter shall, however, be construed
to affect the terms of any present members of the Zoning Board of
Adjustment, all of whom shall continue in office until the completion
of the terms for which they were appointed.
B.
No member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment may hold
any elective office or position under the municipality.
C.
A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of
term shall be filled for the unexpired term only.
[Added 1-25-1979 by Ord. No. 778; amended 12-28-2004 by Ord. No. 1344]
There are hereby created four positions as alternate
members to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Alternate members shall
be designated by the Chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment as,
"Alternate No. 1," "Alternate No. 2," "Alternate No. 3," and "Alternate
No. 4."
The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman
and Vice Chairman from its members and shall also select a Secretary
who may or may not be a Board member or another municipal employee.
[Amended 4-21-2005 by Ord. No. 1353]
There is hereby created the office of Attorney
to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Board of Adjustment may annually
appoint, employ or contract for and fix the rate of compensation of
said Attorney, who shall be an attorney other than the Municipal Attorney,
and the Board may employ or contract for and fix the compensation
of experts and other staff and services as it shall deem necessary,
not exceeding, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount appropriated
by the governing body for its use. The amount paid from escrow to
the Board Attorney, if any, shall not exceed the rate set by the governing
body and shall not supplement said amount. In no event shall compensation
for the Board Attorney, from any source, exceed the rate set by the
governing body and shall not supplement said amount, which shall not
exceed $75 per hour, unless the Council shall amend said amount at
its annual reorganization meeting.
A.
Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by
any interested party. Each appeal shall be taken within the 65 days
prescribed by the statute by filing a notice of appeal with the officer
from whom the appeal was taken, together with three copies of said
notice with the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment. Said notice
of appeal shall specify the grounds for said 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.
B.
Applications addressed to the original jurisdiction
of the Board of Adjustment without prior application to an administrative
officer shall be filed with the Secretary of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
Three copies of the application shall be filed. At the time of filing
the appeal or application, but in no event less than 10 days prior
to the date set for hearing, the applicant shall also file all plot
plans, maps or other papers required by virtue of any provision of
this chapter or any rule of the Board of Adjustment. The applicant
shall obtain all necessary forms from the Secretary of the Zoning
Board of Adjustment. The Secretary of the Board shall inform the applicant
of the steps to be taken to initiate proceedings and of the regular
meeting dates of the Board.
C.
An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of
the action in respect to which the decision appealed from was made,
unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the
Board of Adjustment, after the notice of appeal shall have been filed
with him, that, by reason of facts stated in the certificate, a stay
would, in his opinion, cause imminent peril to life or property. In
such cases, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining
order which may be granted by the Board of Adjustment or by the Superior
Court of New Jersey on application or notice to the officer from whom
appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
In exercising the above-mentioned power, the
Board of Adjustment may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or modify
the action, order, requirement, decision, interpretation or determination
appealed from and to that end have all the powers of the administrative
officer from whom the appeal was taken.
Any variance from the terms of this chapter
hereafter granted by the Board of Adjustment, permitting the erection
or alteration of any structure or structures or permitting a specified
use of any premises, shall expire by limitation unless such construction
or alteration shall have been actually commenced on each and every
structure permitted by said variance or unless such permitted use
has actually been commenced within one year from the date of publication
of the notice of the judgment or determination of the Board of Adjustment;
except, however, that the running of the period of limitation herein
provided shall be tolled from the date of filing an appeal from the
decision of the Board of Adjustment to the governing body or to a
court of competent jurisdiction until the termination in any manner
of such appeal or proceeding.
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall have such powers as
are granted by law to:
(1)
Hear and decide appeals where it is alleged by the
appellant that there is error in any order, requirement, decision
or refusal made by an administrative official or agency based on or
made in the enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance.
(2)
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the
Zoning Map or Zoning Ordinance or for decisions upon other special
questions upon which such Board is authorized by the Zoning Ordinance
to pass.
(3)
Where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness
or shape of a specific piece of property, by reason of exceptional
topographic conditions or by reason of other extraordinary and exceptional
situation or condition of such piece of property, the strict application
of any regulation in the Zoning Ordinance would result in peculiar
and exceptional practical difficulties to or exceptional and undue
hardship upon the developer of such property, grant, upon an application
or an appeal relating to such property, a variance from such strict
application so as to relieve such difficulties or hardship; provided,
however, that no variance shall be granted under this subsection to
allow a structure or use in a district restricted against such structure
or use, and further provided 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 shall
review a request for a variance pursuant to Section 47a (N.J.S.A.
40:55D-60a) of the Municipal Land Use Law of 1975, c. 291, P.L. 1975.
(4)
Grant a variance to allow a structure or use in a
district restricted against such structure or use in particular cases
and for special reasons, but only by the affirmative vote of at least
two-thirds ( 2/3) of the full authorized membership of the Board.
B.
No variance or other relief may be granted under the
provisions of this section 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
Zoning Ordinance. An application under this section may be referred
to any appropriate person or agency, including the Planning Board,
in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-26, for its report, provided that
such reference shall not extend the period of time within which the
Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act.
A.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall, in addition to the powers specified in § 118-16 of this article, have the power given by law to:
(1)
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-34
for a building or structure in the bed of a mapped street or public
drainageway, flood control basin or public area reserved on the Official
Map as provided in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-32.
(2)
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36
for a building or structure not related to a street.
B.
The Board of Adjustment shall have the power to grant, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning Board, subdivision or site plan approval pursuant to Article 6 of c. 291, P.L. 1975 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-37 et seq., Subdivision and Site Plan Review and Approval), or conditional use approval pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67 whenever the Board is reviewing an application for approval of a variance pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D.70d [Article II, § 118-16A(4), of this chapter].
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall render its decision
not later than 120 days after the date an appeal is taken from the
decision of an administrative officer or not later than 120 days after
the date of the submission of a complete application for development
to the Board, pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70b. Failure
of the Board to render a decision within such one-hundred-twenty-day
period or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant
shall constitute a decision favorable to the applicant.
B.
Whenever review or approval of the application by
the County Planning Board is required (N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.3 in the case
of a subdivision or N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.6 in the case of a site plan),
the Board of Adjustment shall condition any approval that it grants
upon timely receipt of a favorable report on the application by the
County Planning Board or approval by the County Planning Board by
its failure to report thereon within the required time.
