Lawnside City Zoning Code
ARTICLE VIII
Zoning Board of Adjustment
§ 96-61 Establishment; membership; terms of office; officers.
A.
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69, a Zoning Board of Adjustment, also known as the "Board of Adjustment," is hereby established and shall consist of seven members.
B.
The members of the Board of Adjustment shall be appointed by the Mayor. The terms of the members first appointed under this chapter shall be so determined that to the greatest practicable extent, the expiration of such terms shall be distributed evenly over the first four years after their appointment. Thereafter, the term of each member shall be four years. No member may hold any elective office or position under the borough. No member shall be permitted to act on any matter in which he has either directly or indirectly, any personal or financial interest. A member may, after public hearing if he requests it, be removed by the Borough Council for cause. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of a term shall be filled for the unexpired term only.
C.
The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman from its members and select a Secretary, who may or may not be a member of the Board of Adjustment or a municipal employee.
§ 96-62 Powers and duties.
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall have the power to:
(2)
Hear and decide, in accordance with the provisions of the Zoning Articles of this chapter, requests for interpretation of the Zoning Map or Zoning Articles of this chapter or for decisions upon other special questions upon which such Board is authorized to pass by the Zoning Articles of this chapter.
(3)
Where, by reason of exceptional narrowness, shallowness or shape of a specific piece of property or by reason of exceptional topographic conditions or by reason of other extraordinary and exceptional situation or conditions of such piece of property, the strict application of any regulation pursuant to Articles IX, X and XI of this chapter 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 appeal relating to such property, a variance from such strict application of such regulation 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 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 shall review a request for a variance pursuant to § 96-24A of this chapter.
(4)
Grant a variance to allow a structure or use in a district restricted against such structure or use in particular cases and for special reasons, but only by an affirmative vote of at least 2/3 of the full authorized membership of the Board.
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. An application under this section may be referred to any appropriate person or agency, including the Planning Board pursuant to § 96-68F of this chapter, for its report, provided that such reference shall not extend the period of time within which the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act.
§ 96-63 Staff and other services.
The Board of Adjustment may employ or contract for and fix the compensation of legal counsel, other than the Municipal Attorney, a licensed planning consultant, a licensed engineer and other staff and services as it shall deem necessary, not exceeding, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount appropriated by the Borough Council for its use.
§ 96-64 Appeals and applications for development.
A.
Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by any interested party affected by any decision of the Zoning Enforcement Officer of the borough 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 Zoning Enforcement Officer, 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 the Zoning Enforcement Officer.
C.
If an application for development is filed with the Board of Adjustment, whether or not an appeal from a decision of the Zoning Enforcement Officer is also taken, the applicant shall submit 15 copies of his completed application to the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment. The time for the Board's review shall not begin to run until the submission of a complete application with the required fee. Unless the applicant is informed in writing by the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment within 45 days of the actual submission of the application that it is incomplete, said application shall be deemed complete as of the date it was submitted.
D.
A complete application for development under this Article shall consist of the following:
(1)
A properly completed variance information application form.
E.
The Secretary of the Board of Adjustment shall distribute the application for review and report and, where required, approval as follows:
§ 96-65 Time limit for decisions.
A.
The Board of Adjustment shall render a decision not later than 120 days after the date an appeal is taken from the decision of the Zoning Enforcement Officer or not later than 120 days after the date of the submission of a complete application for development to the Board of Adjustment pursuant to § 96-64B of this chapter.
B.
Failure of the Board to render a decision within such 120-day period or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant shall constitute a decision favorable to the applicant.
§ 96-66 Modification upon appeal.
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 shall have all the powers of the Zoning Enforcement Officer from whom the appeal is taken.
§ 96-67 Stay of proceedings by appeal.
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 Zoning Enforcement 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.
§ 96-68 Additional powers.
A.
B.
The Board of Adjustment shall have the power to grant, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Planning Board, subdivision or site plan approval pursuant to Articles VI and VII of this chapter or conditional use approval whenever the Board of Adjustment is reviewing an application for approval of a variance pursuant to Section 96-62A(4) of this chapter.
C.
Whenever an application for development requests relief pursuant to Subsection B of this section, the Board of Adjustment shall grant or deny approval of the application within 120 days after submission by a developer of a complete application to the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Failure of the Board of Adjustment to act within the period prescribed shall constitute approval of the application, and a certificate of the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment as to the failure of the Board of Adjustment 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.
D.
Whenever review or approval of the application by the County Planning Board is required by N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.3 in the case of a subdivision, or N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.6 in the case of a site plan, the Board of Adjustment shall condition any approval that it grants upon timely receipt of a favorable report on the application by the Planning Board or approval by the Planning Board by its failure to report thereon within the required time.
E.
An application under this section may be referred to any appropriate person or agency for its report, provided that such reference shall not extend the period of time within which the Zoning Board of Adjustment may act.
F.
The Board of Adjustment shall refer any application for subdivision or site plan approval under this section to the Planning Board for its report before it takes final action thereon. Such reference shall not extend the time for action by the Board of Adjustment, whether or not the Planning Board has submitted its report. Whenever the Planning Board shall have made a recommendation regarding a matter authorized by this chapter to the Board of Adjustment, such recommendation may be rejected only by a majority of the full authorized membership of the Board of Adjustment.