[Amended 2-8-1977 by Ord. No. 283-B-77]
A.
A Zoning Board is hereby established pursuant to N.J.S.A.
40:55D-69, consisting of seven residents of the Township of Brick
appointed by a majority vote of the full membership of 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.
D.
The Township Council may, by a majority vote of its
full membership, appoint two alternate members to the Zoning Board
of Adjustment. Alternate members shall be designated by the Chairman
as "Alternate No. 1" and "Alternate No. 2" and serve in rotation during
the absence or disqualification of any regular member or members.
The term of each alternate member shall be two years from the date
of his appointment.
[Added 9-11-1979 by Ord. No. 283-C-79]
The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman
and Vice Chairman from its members and shall also 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 actually appoint and 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 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.
A.
The powers of the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall
be in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69 et seq., and amendments and
supplements thereto, and with the provisions of this chapter.
B.
It is further the intent of this chapter to confer upon the Zoning Board of Adjustment as full and complete powers as may lawfully be conferred upon such Board, including, not by way of limitation, the authority, in connection with any case, action or proceeding before the Board, to interpret and construe the provisions of this chapter or any term, clause, sentence or word hereof and the Zoning Map, in accordance with the general rules of construction, applicable to legislative enactments.
C.
The Board may, in appropriate cases and subject to
appropriate conditions and safeguards, grant variances from the terms
of this chapter in accordance with the general or specific rules contained
herein and with the general rules hereby laid down so that equity
shall be done in cases where the strict construction of the provisions
of this chapter would work undue hardship. The powers and duties of
the Board having been delegated to and imposed upon it by statute,
the Board shall in all cases follow the provisions applicable to it
in the Municipal Land Use Act of 1975 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.)
or subsequent statutes in such case made and provided, and it shall
from time to time furnish to any person requesting the same a copy
of its rules and information as to how appeals or applications may
properly be filed with the Board for its decision thereon.
A.
Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by
any person aggrieved or by an officer, department, board or bureau
of the municipality affected by any decision of the administrative
officer. Each appeal shall be taken within the 20 days prescribed
by N.J.S.A. 40:55D-72 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 forthwith transmit to the Board all
the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed
from was taken.
[Amended 3-14-1989 by Ord. No. 666-89]
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 of 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
the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
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 appealed from and make such other 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.
[Amended 4-10-2007 by Ord. No. 10-07]
Any variance from the terms of this chapter
hereafter granted by the Board of Adjustment after April 1, 2005,
permitting the erection or alteration of any structure or structures
shall expire by limitation unless such construction or alteration
shall have been actually commenced on each and every structure permitted
by said variance within two years 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.
Any construction commenced within the two-year period provided for
in this section shall be completed within two years of the commencement
of such construction. Any variance from the terms of this chapter
hereafter granted by the Board of Adjustment after April 1, 2005,
permitting a specified use of any premises shall expire by limitation
unless such permitted use has actually commenced within four years
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:
(2)
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the
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 or by reason or 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 structures
lawfully existing thereon, the strict application of any regulation
in the Zoning Ordinance would result in peculiar and 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 of such regulation so as to relieve such difficulties
or hardship; where, in an application or appeal relating to a specific
piece of property, the purposes of this Act[2] would be advanced by a deviation from the Zoning Ordinance requirements and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, grant a variance to allow departure from the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance; provided, however, that no variance from those departures enumerated in Subsection A(4) of this section 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 11-27-1984 by Ord. No. 283-G-84]
[2]
Editor's Note: "This Act" refers to the Municipal
Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
(4)
In particular cases and for special reasons, grant
a variance to allow departure from regulations of the Zoning Ordinance
to permit a use or principal structure in a district restricted against
such use or principal structure, an expansion of a nonconforming use,
deviations from a specification or standard pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67
pertaining solely to a conditional use, an increase in the permitted
floor area ratio as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4 or an increase in
the permitted density as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4, except as applied
to the required lot area for a lot or lots for detached one- or two-dwelling-unit
buildings, which lot or lots are either an isolated undersized lot
or lots resulting from a minor subdivision. A variance under this
subsection shall be granted only by affirmative vote of at least five
members of the Board.
[Amended 11-27-1984 by Ord. No. 283-G-84]
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 zoning plan
and Zoning Ordinance.[3] Any application under any subsection of this section may
be referred to any appropriate person or agency for its report, provided
that such reference shall not extend the period of time within which
the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act.
[Amended 11-27-1984 by Ord. No. 283-G-84]
A.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall, in addition to the powers specified in § 250-22 of this article, have 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.
(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 N.J.S.A. 40:55D-37 et seq., or conditional use approval, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67, whenever the Board is reviewing an application for approval of a use variance pursuant to § 250-22A(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 office or the submission of a complete
application for development to the Board pursuant to the provisions
of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70b.
B.
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.
All actions of the Board of Adjustment shall
be taken in accordance with the requirements as established in N.J.S.A.
40:55D-9a. When any hearing before the Board of Adjustment shall carry
over two or more meetings, a member of the Board who was absent for
one or more of the meetings shall be eligible to vote on the matter
upon which the hearing was conducted, notwithstanding his absence
from one or more of the meetings; provided, however, that such Board
member has available to him a transcript or recording of the meeting
from which he was absent and certifies, in writing, to the Board that
he has read such transcript or listened to such recording.
