[Amended 12-17-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-28]
The City of Ventnor City hereby exercises the option provided
by N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25c and accordingly the City of Ventnor City Zoning
Board of Adjustment is terminated and is no longer a municipal agency.
[Amended 12-17-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-28]
For purposes of implementing the exercise of
said option, the term "Planning Board" shall be substituted for the
term "Zoning Board of Adjustment" or equivalent in each and every
instance "Planning Board" or equivalent appears in any City of Ventnor
City ordinance, resolution, or regulation.
[Amended 12-17-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-28]
Where the substitution of "Planning Board" for
"Zoning Board of Adjustment" or equivalent results in an apparent
duplication, redundancy, or conflict in any ordinance, resolution
or regulation, the same shall be liberally construed and interpreted
to implement the option provided by N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25c whereby the
Planning Board replaces and performs all functions of the Zoning Board
of Adjustment.
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.
In exercising the above-mentioned power, the
Planning Board may, in conformity with the provisions of P.L. 1975,
c. 291, 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 Planning Board 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 six months from the date of entry
of the judgment or determination of the Planning Board; 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
Planning Board to the governing body or to a court of competent jurisdiction
until the termination in any manner of such appeal or proceeding.
The Planning Board 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
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
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, 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 Subsection 47a of the
Municipal Land Use Law of 1975, P.L. 1975, c. 291.
D. Grant a variance or other relief 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.
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 Planning Board shall act.
The Planning Board shall render its decision
not later than 120 days after the date an appeal is taken from the
decision of an administrative officer or 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.