The Board of Commissioners may, from time to
time, after public notice and hearing, amend, supplement or change
the regulations and districts herein established. Proceedings for
an amendment may be initiated only as follows:
A. By the Board of Commissioners by the introduction
of an amending ordinance.
B. By the Planning Board by adoption of a resolution
recommending an amendment.
C. By public petition. When owners of more than 50% of
the frontage within a district or part of a district shall present
to the Board of Commissioners a duly signed petition for the amendment,
change or modification of said district or part of district, the Board
of Commissioners shall act upon said petition within 120 days after
the filing of said petition with the Town Clerk. Said petition shall
be accompanied by a map showing the lots, buildings and uses of property
within the area for which the change of district is requested as well
as all of the property within 100 feet therefrom, exclusive of street
space. Said petition shall, furthermore, set forth the grounds or
reasons for the proposed change.
If a protest is filed against any proposed amendment
or revision of a zoning ordinance, signed by the owners of 20% or
more either of the area of the lots or land included in such proposed
change or of the lots or land extending 200 feet in all directions
therefrom, exclusive of street space, within or without the municipality,
such amendment shall not become effective except by a favorable vote
of 2/3 of all the members of the Board of Commissioners.
No amendment, supplement, change, modification
or repeal of any regulation, restriction or district boundary shall
become effective until after a public hearing in relation thereto,
at which the parties in interest and citizens shall have an opportunity
to be heard.
At least 10 days' notice of the time and place
of such hearing shall be published in an official paper or a paper
of general circulation in the town.
The hearing by the Board of Commissioners on
a proposed amendment or resolution shall be held on the petition or
resolution as filed. Any further proposal in respect to any proposal
made in connection therewith or any addition or modification of the
content of the proposed amendment shall be made only in the form of
an amended petition or resolution. The filing of any such amended
petition or resolution shall terminate all proceedings consequent
on the original petition or resolution and shall be deemed to be the
initiation of new proceedings, which shall be conducted in full conformity
with the provisions of this article as if the original petition or
resolution had never been filed, except that a protest filed against
the amendment as originally proposed shall be deemed to have been
filed against the amendment as proposed in the amended petition to
the extent that it is pertinent thereto.
Before adopting any amendment, the Board of
Commissioners shall adopt a resolution setting forth the findings
upon which it determined such amendment to be required by the public
interest in furtherance of the purposes of this chapter.
No petition for a change in district boundaries
shall be considered by the Board of Commissioners within a period
of one year from its last consideration of any proposed change in
district boundaries applying to substantially the same land.
With the consent of the Board of Commissioners,
any petition for an amendment may be withdrawn at any time by the
filing of a verified petition of withdrawal signed by a majority of
the persons who signed the original petition. Such withdrawal shall
terminate the proceedings initiated by the original petition. Any
proceedings for an amendment initiated by a resolution of the Board
of Commissioners or the Planning Board may be terminated by the body
that initiated the same at any time that such proceedings are before
said body. In any event, any hearing of which notice has been given
shall be held.
In furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article
I, the Planning Board shall, at intervals of not greater than two years, report to the Board of Commissioners as to the necessity for a general revision of this chapter. If the Planning Board recommends such a revision, it shall describe the conditions which it believes indicate the desirability thereof, outlining in general the respects in which it is of the opinion that the chapter could be better adapted to such conditions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in Article
I and shall indicate the scope of the revision that it believes to be advisable.