[Amended 6-25-1981 by Ord. No. 81-19; 8-21-2006 by Ord. No. 06-40]
A. 
A Zoning Board of Adjustment is hereby created consisting of seven regular members and four alternate members, each of whom shall be appointed by the governing body. The members of the heretofore created Zoning Board of Adjustment are hereby reappointed to serve their respective terms. The terms of all new members appointed under this chapter shall be so determined that, to the greatest practicable extent, the expiration of such terms shall be distributed, in the case of regular members, evenly over the first four years after their appointment and, in the case of alternate members, evenly over the first two years after their appointment; provided, however, that the initial term of no regular member shall exceed four years and that the initial term of no alternate member shall exceed two years. Thereafter, the term of each regular member shall be four years, and the term of each alternate member shall be two years. The terms of not more than two alternate members shall expire in any one year.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Section 11 of Ord. No. 84-12, adopted 5-21-1984, provided that all terms which are to expire on June 30 of any year are hereby extended to December 31 of that year, with new appointments to he made on the following January 1, unless restricted or prohibited by state statute or regulation.
B. 
Alternate members shall be designated at the time of their appointment as "Alternate No. 1," "Alternate No 2," "Alternate No. 3" and "Alternate No. 4." In the event that a choice must be made as to which alternate member is to vote, the alternate members shall vote in the order of their numerical designations.
The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman and a Vice Chairman from among its members and shall also select a Secretary, who may but need not be a member of the Board.
The governing body shall make provision in its budget and appropriate funds for the expenses of the Board of Adjustment.
The office of Board of Adjustment Attorney is hereby created. The Board of Adjustment may annually appoint to such office and fix the compensation or rate of compensation of an attorney at law of New Jersey other than the Municipal Attorney. The Board may also employ or contract for and fix the compensation of such experts and other staff and services as it deems necessary. Obligations for the foregoing shall not exceed, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount appropriated by the governing body for the Board's use.
[Amended 10-7-1985 by Ord. No. 85-32]
A. 
The Board of Adjustment shall have the power to:
(1) 
Hear and decide appeals where it is alleged by the appellant that there is an error in any order, requirement, decision or refusal made by any municipal official based on or made in enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance.
(2) 
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 to pass by a Zoning or Official Map Ordinance.
(3) 
Decisions upon special questions:
(a) 
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 zoning regulation would result in peculiar and exceptional practical difficulties to, or 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.
(b) 
Where, in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property, the purposes of this chapter set forth in § 126-1 and the Municipal Land Use Law (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.) would be advanced by deviation from the Zoning Ordinance requirements and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, grant a variance to allow the departure from zoning regulations; provided, however, that no variance from those departures enumerated in § 126-19A(4)(a)[4] 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 § 126-11C.
(4) 
Variance for special cases:
(a) 
Grant a variance to allow departure from zoning regulation, including but not limited to allowing a structure or use in a district restricted against such structure or use, in particular cases and for special reasons 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 pertaining solely to a conditional use;
[4] 
An increase in the permitted floor area ratio as defined in § 126-2; or
[5] 
An increase in the permitted density as defined in § 126-2, except as applied to the required lot area for a lot or lots for detached one- and two-family-dwelling-unit buildings, which lot or lots are either an isolated undersized lot or lots resulting from a minor subdivision.
[6] 
A variance under this subsection shall be granted only by the affirmative vote of at least five members.
B. 
No variance or other relief may be granted under the terms 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.
The Board of Adjustment, in lieu of the Planning Board and to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as said Board, shall receive, review and act upon applications for approval of subdivision plats, site plans and conditional uses, but only in conjunction with the Board of Adjustment's review of applications for approval of use variances.
The Board of Adjustment shall receive, review and act upon applications for special permits, except where such authority is conferred upon the Planning Board in conjunction with the Planning Board's review of applications for approval of subdivision plats, site plans or conditional uses.
[Amended 1-4-1979 by Ord. No. 79-1; 10-7-1985 by Ord. No. 85-32]
An application under § 126-19 or 126-2 may be referred to an appropriate person or agency for its report, provided that such reference shall not extend the period of time within which the Board of Adjustment shall act.
A. 
Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by any interested party affected by any decision of an administrative officer of the municipality based on or made in the enforcement of the Zoning Ordinance or Official Map. Such appeal shall be taken within 65 days by filing a notice of appeal with the officer from whom the appeal is taken, specifying the grounds of such appeal. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall immediately transmit to the Board all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken.
B. 
A developer may file an application for development with the Board of Adjustment for action under any of its powers without prior application to an administrative officer.
An appeal to the Board of Adjustment shall stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action in respect to which the decision appealed from was made unless the officer from whose action 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 case, proceedings shall not be stayed other than by an order of the Superior Court upon notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
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 administrative officer from whom the appeal is taken.
No power expressly authorized by this chapter to be exercised by the Board of Adjustment shall be exercised by any other body except as otherwise provided by this chapter.