The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman
and Vice Chairman from its members and also shall select a Secretary
who may be either a Board member or another municipal employee.
There is hereby created the office of Attorney
to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Zoning Board of Adjustment
may annually appoint, fix the compensation of or agree upon the rate
of compensation of the Zoning Board of Adjustment Attorney, who shall
be an attorney other than the Municipal Attorney.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment may also employ
or contract for and fix the compensation of such experts and other
staff and services as it may deem necessary. The Board shall not authorize
expenditures which exceed, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount
appropriated by the governing body for its use.
The Board shall adopt bylaws governing its procedural
operation and such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry
into effect the provisions and purposes of this chapter. In the issuance
of subpoenas, administration of oaths and taking of testimony, the
provisions of the County and Municipal Investigations Law of 1953
(N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.
In exercising the above mentioned power, the
Board of Adjustment may, in conformity with the provisions of N.J.S.A.
40:55D-1 et seq. or amendments thereto or subsequent statutes applying
reverse or affirm wholly or partly or may modify the order, requirement,
decision, or determination as ought to be made 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 substantial
construction or alteration shall have been actually commenced on each
and every structure permitted by said variance, or unless such use
has actually been commenced, within one year from the date of entry
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.
The Board of Adjustment shall have such powers
as are granted by law 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 an administrative official or agency based on or
made in the enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance.
B. 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.
C. Where by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness,
or shape of a specific piece of property, or 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 owner of such property, to 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 N.J.S.A. 40:55-60(a).
D. 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
2/3 of the full authorized membership of the Board.
E. 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. Any application under any subsection of this section
may be referred to any appropriate person or agency, including the
Planning Board, for its report, provided that such reference shall
not extend the period of time within which the Zoning Board of Adjustment
shall act.
F. No application for a variance or other relief requesting a change in density under this section prior to the submission of a site plan shall be considered unless the application for the desired variance or other relief is accompanied by an environmental impact report as prescribed by §
188-6 hereof.