The Planning Board shall have exclusive jurisdiction over subdivisions, site plans, conditional uses, the granting of variances in certain instances and such other items as set forth in this chapter.

The Board of Adjustment shall have exclusive jurisdiction over the granting of a variance from the terms and provisions of the zoning regulations except as set forth above and such other items as set forth in this chapter.

The applicant/developer shall file with the appropriate administrative officer a development application as set forth herein.

An application for development shall be complete for purposes of commencing the application time period for action by the Planning Board or Board of Adjustment when so certified by its administrative officer. In the event that the administrative officer does not certify the application to be complete within 45 days of the date of its submission, the application shall be deemed complete upon the expiration of the forty-five-day period for purposes of commencing the applicable time period unless: (a) the application lacks information indicated on the Board's adopted checklist (attached hereto in Schedule A) and provided to the applicant; and (b) the administrative officer has notified the applicant, in writing, of the deficiencies in the application within 45 days of submission of the application. The applicant must request that one or more of the submission requirements be waived, in which event the appropriate Board shall grant or deny the request within 45 days. Nothing herein shall be construed as diminishing the applicant's obligation to prove in the application process that he is entitled to approval of the application. The applicable Board may subsequently require correction of any information found to be in error and submission of additional information not specified in the ordinance or any revisions in the accompanying documents, as are reasonably necessary to make an informed decision as to whether the requirements necessary for approval of the application for development have been met. The application shall not be deemed incomplete for lack of any such additional information of any revisions in the accompanying documents so required by the Board.

Minor subdivision approvals shall be granted or denied within 45 days of the date of submission of a complete application to the administrative officer or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Approval of a minor subdivision shall expire 190 days from the date of Planning Board approval unless within such period a plat in conformity with such approval and the provisions of the Map Filing Law, or a deed clearly describing the approved minor subdivision, is filed by the developer with the County Recording Officer, the Township Engineer and the Township Tax Assessor. Any such plat or deed must be signed by the Chairman and Secretary of the Planning Board before it will be accepted for filing by the County Recording Officer.

Minor site plan approval shall be granted or denied within 45 days of the date of submission of a complete application to the administrative officer or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Minor site plan approval shall confer upon the applicant the right that the general terms and conditions upon which minor site plan approval was granted shall not be changed for a period of two years.

Upon the submission to the administrative officer of a complete application for a site plan which involves 10 acres of land or less and 10 dwelling units or less, the Planning Board shall grant or deny preliminary approval within 45 days of the date of such submission or within such further time as may be consented to by the developer. Upon the submission of a completed application for a site plan which involves more than 10 acres or more than 10 dwelling units, the Planning Board shall grant or deny preliminary approval within 95 days of the date of such submission or within such further time as may be consented to by the developer. Otherwise, the Planning Board shall be deemed to have granted preliminary approval of the site plan.

Upon submission of a complete application to the administrative officer for a subdivision of 10 or fewer lots, the Planning Board shall grant or deny preliminary approval within 45 days of the date of such submission or within such further time as may be consented to by the developer. Upon submission of a complete application to the administrative officer for a subdivision of more than 10 lots, the Planning Board shall grant or deny preliminary approval within 95 days of the date of such submission or within such further time as may be consented to by the developer.

The Planning Board shall grant or deny an application for a conditional use within 95 days of submission of a complete application by a developer to the administrative officer or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. The review by the Planning Board of a conditional use shall be accompanied by an application for site plan approval pursuant to Article VI of this chapter. The time period for approval of conditional uses by the Planning Board shall apply to such site plan review.

Whenever an application for approval of a subdivision plat, site plan or conditional use includes a request for relief pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-60, the Planning Board shall grant or deny approval of the application within 120 days after submission by a developer of a complete application to the administrative officer or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Applications for variances and conditional uses and/or directives for issuance of a building permit shall be heard by the Board in conjunction with the hearing on a minor subdivision, minor site plan, subdivision plat or site plan. The applicant may elect to submit a separate application requesting approval of the variance or direction of the issuance of a permit and a subsequent application for any required approval of a subdivision, site plan or conditional use. Separate approval of the variance or direction of the issuance of a permit shall be conditioned upon grant of all required subsequent approvals by the Planning Board. No such subsequent approvals shall be granted unless the approval can be granted without substantial detriment to the public good and without substantial impairment of the intent and purpose of the Zoning Plan and Zoning Ordinances.

Failure of the Planning Board to act within the period prescribed shall constitute approval of the application, and a Certificate of the administrative officer as to the failure of the Planning Board to act shall be issued on request of the applicant, and it shall be sufficient in lieu of the written endorsement or other evidence of approval, herein required, and shall be so accepted by the County Recording Officer for purposes of filing subdivision plats.

The Mayor may appoint one or more persons as a Citizens' Advisory Committee to assist or collaborate with the Planning Board in its duties, but such person or persons shall have no power to vote or take other action required by the Board. Such person or persons shall serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.

Whenever the Environmental Commission has prepared and submitted to the Board an index of the natural resources of the municipality, the Board shall make available to the Environmental Commission an informational copy of every application for development to the Board. Failure of the Planning Board to make such informational copy available to the Environmental Commission shall not invalidate any hearing or proceeding.

Within the Pinelands Area of the Township, all applications for major Pinelands development, resource extraction and forestry shall be referred to the Environmental Commission for review as of the effective date of this ordinance.[1] The Environmental Commission is hereby authorized to review and comment upon said applications to the Planning Board and/or other Township approval agency.

The Planning Board shall have the power to review and approve or deny conditional uses or site plan 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 is for subdivision, conditional use or site plan approval, shall apply. Whenever approval of a conditional use is requested by the developer, notice of the hearing on the plat shall include reference to the request for such conditional use.

When any hearing before the Planning Board or Board of Adjustment shall carry over one or more meetings, a member of the Board who was absent for one or more of the meetings shall be eligible to vote on the matter upon which the hearing was conducted, notwithstanding his absence from one or more of the meetings; provided, however, that such Board member has available to him a transcript or recording of the meeting from which he was absent and certifies in writing to the Board that he has read such transcript or listened to such recording.