[Amended 3-8-2021 by Ord. No. O-06-21]
A. An application for development is required for all development as
defined in this chapter, except that subdivision or individual lot
applications for detached single-family and two-family dwelling units
and their accessory buildings shall be exempt from site plan review
and approval. No building permit shall be issued until approval has
been given by the municipal agency for those applications requiring
approval.
B. A development application may take the form of a request for site plan approval, conditional use, subdivision, variance from the standards of Chapter
421, Zoning, or a combination of any of the above.
C. All development applications as defined in this chapter shall be submitted to the Administrative Officer for referral to the respective Technical Review Committee of each Board, with the exception of one- and two-family dwellings. All applications shall conform to the requirements included in the respective Board application packets, and submission checklists in §
53-34. Requests for waiver of any of the requirements of the submission checklists shall be submitted to the Administrative Officer as part of the application.
D. Technical Review Committee (TRC).
(1) Purpose. The Technical Review Committee is established to streamline
and make the development process more cost efficient by providing
assistance to applicants to address technical issues prior to applications
reaching the respective Board.
(2) The Technical Review Committee shall review all development applications
to be presented to the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment,
with the exception of one- and two-family dwellings. The Technical
Review committee provides feedback pertaining to technical items.
The Technical Review Committee's recommendations are nonbinding and
do not guarantee Board approval. The Board may request additional
information or modifications to submitted applications.
(3) Members. The Technical Review Committee shall be chaired by the Business
Administrator or his or her designee, and consist of the Director
of Community Development, the City Engineer, the City Planner, the
Construction Official, the Planning or Zoning Board's engineering
and planning consultants, the Planning or Zoning Board's attorney,
and representatives from the City's emergency services, as needed.
Other officials or consultants may be required on a specific application
based on their particular expertise.
(4) Powers and duties. The Technical Review Committee shall:
(a)
Determine the completeness of all applications presented before
it in accordance with the checklists and application requirements
of the City.
(b)
Determine the adequacy of application materials provided to
address technical standards set forth in the City Zoning Ordinance.
(c)
Determine compliance with technical standards set forth in the
City Zoning Ordinance.
(d)
Consider and approve waivers of specific checklist requirements
for completeness purposes. The Board may request additional information
or modifications to submitted applications.
(e)
Recommend whether an environmental impact assessment, traffic
impact assessment, or any other special studies should be provided.
(f)
Recommend whether other agency permits, or approvals should
be provided.
(5) Application submission and review procedure.
(a)
Submission. Applications shall be submitted to the City at least
15 days in advance of the scheduled Technical Review Committee meeting.
(b)
Reviews. The Technical Review Committee members will each issue,
when appropriate, a preliminary review indicating the adequacy of
the provided materials, and to provide recommended changes to the
proposed project. Preliminary reviews shall be provided prior to the
applicant's scheduled meeting with the Technical Review Committee.
Determinations for completeness shall be certified within 45 days
of the date of submission, pursuant to the Municipal Land Use Law.
(c)
Meetings. The Technical Review Committee shall meet on the third
Wednesday of the month. Minutes will be kept during TRC meetings and
made available to the applicant and all TRC members. At the City's
discretion, additional or special meetings may be scheduled, based
on need.
(d)
Applications for development shall not be scheduled for review
by the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Adjustment until the Technical
Review Committee has deemed the application complete in writing and
indicated that all technical items have been addressed. If the TRC
determines that the plans are incomplete or do not adequately address
the technical standards set forth in the City Zoning Ordinance, additional
meetings and the resubmission of revised plan sets may be required
before the TRC can deem an application complete. Once the application
has addressed all technical items and has been deemed complete, the
application may proceed to the appropriate Board. At that time, the
Board professionals will issue a review letter based on the Board
submission.
E. Applications in redevelopment areas. Prior to submission of formal development review by the Technical Review Committee and the Planning Board, each redeveloper shall submit detailed plans to the Rahway Redevelopment Agency (RRA) for its review. The RRA's approval of such submission shall be based on whether the plans conform to the redevelopment plan and redevelopment agreement, if one exists at the time of conceptual review. If the RRA determines that the plans are nonconforming, RRA shall advise the redeveloper of the issues that give rise to such nonconformance. The redeveloper shall then revise and resubmit the plans as many times as necessary to receive approval from the RRA. If the RRA deems the submitted plans consistent with the redevelopment plan, a copy of that plan set shall be included in the Planning Board application, as well as any review letter or approving document created by the RRA or its professionals. Prior to review or submission in front of the Planning Board, any redevelopment application shall go through the TRC process as detailed in Subsection
D above.
F. Review and approval of site plans and subdivisions for any property
having frontage on a county road shall be required for commercial,
industrial or multifamily structures containing four or more units
or any land development for the above uses that require off-street
parking or that produce surface runoff in excess of county standards.
The municipal agency shall condition any approval that it grants upon
timely receipt of a favorable report or approval by the County Planning
Board's failure to report thereon within 30 days.
G. At the request of the developer, the Planning Board shall grant an
informal review of a concept plan for a development for which the
developer intends to prepare and submit an application for development.
The developer shall not be required to submit any fees for such an
informal review. The developer shall not be bound by any concept plan
for which review is requested, and the Planning Board shall not be
bound by any such review.
H. As a condition of approval, it shall be required that the applicant
submit proof that no taxes or assessments for local improvements are
due or delinquent on the property for which any subdivision, site
plan or planned development application is made.
[Added 4-13-1998 by Ord. No. O-14-98; amended 6-11-2008 by Ord. No. O-13-08]
A. No application for development shall be deemed complete
unless the items, information and documentation listed in the applicable
checklist or lists (See Addenda A to F adopted by this section.) are submitted to the municipal agency. If any required
item is not submitted, the applicant must make a request, in writing,
for a waiver and state the reasons supporting each such request.
B. In addition to the required checklist submittals,
all drawings associated with the preliminary and final application
of minor and major site plans, minor and major subdivisions and their
applicable reports shall be submitted in Adobe portable document format
(pdf) at 400 by 400 dpi. All other documents such as, but not limited
to, application, escrow sheet, completion checklist, environmental
impact study, traffic study, stormwater report, sewer and water report,
reforestation or woodland management plan, and permits associated
with the application shall be submitted in Adobe portable document
format (pdf) at 300 by 300 dpi. All revisions and resubmissions shall
also be submitted in these formats. All filed maps and required final
as-built plans shall be submitted in one of the following formats:
AutoCAD Drawing File (dwg), ESRI Shapefile (shp), Drawing Exchange
Format File (dxf) or Microstation drawing file (dgn) and contain coordinate
values for at least three identifiable boundary corners, preferably
in the 1983 New Jersey State Plane Coordinate System. The vertical
datum shall be in the City’s Datum of NGVD 1929.
C. Layers and spatial data type.
(1) For those development projects where outside agencies,
such as NJDEP, require GIS mapping of utility infrastructure, digital
mapping must be submitted in accordance with the NJDEP Geographic
Information System (GIS) Mapping and Digital Data Standards. Specifically,
compatible configurations and formats are shown in Table 6.1.1 of
said standards. The digital information shall consist of the following
layers:
(a)
Outbound property survey.
(b)
NJDEP-approved freshwater wetlands delineation.
(c)
Topography (preferably one-foot contour intervals).
(e)
Existing and proposed easements, including open
space.
(f)
Existing as-built conditions within the City
and county road rights-of-way.
(2) Further, the following spatial data type should be
utilized:
(a)
Polygons: outbound property surveys, easements,
wetland lines and transition areas and final plats, etc.
(b)
Lines: contour lines, streams and road center
line/right-of-way lines, etc.
(c)
Points: fire hydrants, utility poles, utility
valves, manholes, catch basins, well locations, etc.
The Planning Board shall have the power to review
and approve or deny conditional uses or site plans simultaneously
with review for subdivision approval without the developer being required
to make further application to the Planning Board or the Planning
Board being required to hold further hearings. The longest time period
for action by the Planning Board, whether it be for subdivision, conditional
use or site plan approval, shall apply. Whenever approval of a conditional
use is requested by the developer pursuant to this section, notice
of the hearing on the plat shall include reference to the request
for such conditional use.
The Planning Board, when acting upon applications
for preliminary or minor subdivision approval or preliminary site
plan approval, shall have the power to grant such exceptions from
the requirements for subdivision approval as may be reasonable and
within the general purpose and intent of the provisions for subdivision
review and approval of an ordinance adopted pursuant to this chapter
if the literal enforcement of one or more provisions of the chapter
are impracticable or will exact undue hardship because of peculiar
conditions pertaining to the land in question.
Final approval of a major subdivision shall
expire 95 days from the date of signing of the plat unless within
such period the plat shall have been duly filed by the developer with
the county recording officer. The Planning Board may, for good cause
shown, extend the period for recording for an additional period not
to exceed 190 days from the date of signing of the plat.
If, before final subdivision approval has been
granted, any person transfers or sells or agrees to transfer or sell,
except pursuant to an agreement expressly conditioned on final subdivision
approval, as owner or agent, any land which forms a part of a subdivision
for which municipal approval is required by ordinance pursuant to
this chapter, such person shall be subject to a penalty not to exceed
$1,000, and each lot disposition so made shall be deemed a separate
violation.
In addition to the foregoing, the municipality
may institute and maintain a civil action for injunctive relief and
to set aside and invalidate any conveyance made pursuant to such a
contract of sale if a certificate of compliance has not been issued
in accordance with this chapter.
In any such action, the transferee, purchaser
or grantee shall be entitled to a lien upon the portion of the land
from which the subdivision was made that remains in the possession
of the developer or his assigns or successors, to secure the return
of any deposits made or purchase price paid, and also, a reasonable
search fee, survey expense and title crossing expense, if any. Any
such action must be brought within two years after the date of the
recording of the instrument of transfer, sale or conveyance of said
land or within six years, if unrecorded.