[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;
[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]
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.
