A.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment is authorized to adopt
bylaws governing its procedural operation. It shall also have the
following powers and duties:
(1)
To 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 official based on or made in the enforcement of Chapter 205, Zoning.
(3)
Where by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific piece of property, or by reason of 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 Chapter 205, Zoning, would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties to, or exceptional and undue hardship upon, the developer of such property, to 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; or where in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property the purposes of Chapter 205, Zoning, would be advanced by a deviation from Chapter 205, Zoning, requirements and the benefits of the deviation would substantially out with any detriment, to grant a variance to allow departure from Chapter 205, Zoning, regulations; provided, however, that the fact that a proposed use is an inherently beneficial use shall not be dispositive of a decision on a variance under this subsection, and provided 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 § 22-1G.[1]
(4)
To grant a variance.[2]
(a)
In particular cases for special reasons, to grant a variance to allow departure from Chapter 205, Zoning, regulations to permit:
[1]
A use or principal structure in a district restricted
against such use or principal structure;
[2]
An expansion of a nonconforming use,
[3]
Deviation from a specification or standard pursuant
to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67 pertaining solely to a conditional use;
[4]
An increase in the permitted floor area ratio
as defined in N.J.S.A. 40:55D-4;
[5]
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; or
[6]
A height of a principal structure which exceeds
by 10 feet or 10% the maximum height permitted in the district for
a principal structure.
(b)
A variance under this subsection shall be granted
only by affirmative vote of at least five members of the Board.
(5)
To 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.
(6)
To direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A.
40:55D-36 for a building or structure not related to a street.
(7)
To grant, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning Board, subdivision or site plan 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 use variance pursuant to Subsection A(4) of this section. Before taking any action with respect to a subdivision or site plan application submitted under the subsection, the Zoning Board of Adjustment may refer said application to the Planning Board as permitted by N.J.S.A. 40:55D-26 for its report and recommendation as to whether the subdivision or site plan application should be approved. The Planning Board shall transmit its report and recommendation to the Zoning Board of Adjustment within 35 days of receipt thereof. The Planning Board recommendation may be rejected only by a majority of the full membership of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Said referral shall not toll the time for the Zoning Board of Adjustment to act with respect to said application(s).
[Amended 11-7-1984 by Ord. No. 1984-18]
B.
No variance or other relief may be granted under the provisions of Subsection A(1), (2), (3) or (4) of this section unless said variance or other relief may be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and will not impair the intent and purpose of the zoning plan and Chapter 205, Zoning. 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 shall act.
[Amended 9-16-1981 by Ord. No. 1981-15]
A.
Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by any interested party affected by any decision of a township official based on or made in the enforcement of Chapter 205, Zoning, or Official Map. Each appeal shall be taken within 20 days by filing a notice of appeal with the official 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 official 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.[1]
C.
At the time of filing the appeal or application, but
in no event less than 10 days prior to the date set for the hearing,
the applicant shall also file all relevant plot plans, maps or other
papers. 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. The applicant shall
file the required fees in accordance with the fee schedule and standards
adopted by the Township Council by resolution.
D.
An appeal shall stay the decision appealed from unless
the official from whose decision the appeal is taken certifies to
the Board of Adjustment after the notice of appeal shall have been
filed with him or her that by reason of facts stated in the certificate
a stay would, in his or her opinion, cause imminent peril to life
or property. In such case, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise
than by an order of the Superior Court of New Jersey upon notice to
the official from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
E.
The Board of Adjustment may reverse or affirm, wholly
or in part, or may modify the action, order, requirement, decision,
interpretation or determination appealed from, and, to that end, have
all the powers of the official from whom the appeal was taken.
Any variance from the terms of Chapter 205, Zoning, granted by the Board of Adjustment permitting the erection or alteration of any structure or structures or a specified use of any premises shall expire unless such construction, alteration or use shall have been actually commenced on or in each and every structure permitted by said variance within six months from the date of authorization by the Board of Adjustment and diligently pursued to completion; except, however, that the running of this period shall be tolled from the date of filing an appeal from the decision of the Board of Adjustment to the Township Council or to a court of competent jurisdiction, until the termination in any matter of such appeal or proceeding.
A.
Board of Adjustment shall render its decision not
later than 120 days after the date:
B.
Failure of the Board to render such 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. In the event that the Board fails to so act on a
complete application for development, the Building Services Coordinator
shall issue a certificate on request to the applicant, and it shall
be sufficient in lieu of the written endorsement or other evidence
of approval herein required and shall be so accepted by the County
Clerk for purposes of filing subdivision plats.
[Amended 7-6-1977 by Ord. No. 1977-12]
A.
Whenever review or approval of the application by
the County Planning Board is required by 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 Township 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.
