Montgomery City Zoning Code
§ 16-7.6
Provisions Applicable to Both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
[Ord. #85-482, S 706]
a.
Conflicts of Interest. No regular or alternate member of the Planning Board or Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act on any matter in which he has either directly or indirectly any personal or financial interest. Whenever any such member shall disqualify himself from acting on a particular matter, he shall continue to sit with the Board on the hearing of such matter nor participate in any discussion or decision relating thereto.
b.
Meetings.
1.
Meetings of both the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall be scheduled no less than once a month and any meeting so scheduled shall be held as scheduled unless cancelled for lack of applications for development to process.
2.
Special meetings may be provided for at the call of the Chairman or on the request of any two Board members, which meetings shall be held on notice to its members and the public in accordance with all applicable legal requirements.
3.
No action shall be taken at any meeting without a quorum being present, said quorum to be the majority of the full authorized membership of the Board.
4.
All actions shall be taken by majority vote of the members of the Board present at the meeting except as otherwise required by a provision of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. A member of the Board who was absent for one or more of the meetings at which a hearing was held shall be eligible to vote on a matter upon which the hearing was conducted, nonwithstanding his absence from one or more of the meetings; provided, however, that such Board member has available to him the transcript or recording of all of the hearing from which he was absent, and certifies in writing to the Board that he has read such transcript or listened to such recording.
5.
All regular meetings and all special meetings shall be open to the public, except as provided in the Open Public Meeting Law C.231, Laws of New Jersey, 1975. Notice of all such meetings shall be given in accordance with the requirements of the Open Public Meeting Law C.231, Laws of New Jersey, 1975.
c.
Public Hearings.
1.
The Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Adjustment, as the case may be, shall hold a hearing on each application for development. Each Board shall make rules governing such hearings.
2.
Any maps and documents for which approval is sought at a hearing shall be on file and available for public inspection at least 10 days before the date of the hearing during normal business hours in the office of the Administrative Officer. The applicant may produce any documents, records or testimony at the hearing to substantiate or clarify or supplement the previously filed maps and documents.
3.
The officer presiding at the hearings, or such person as he may designate, shall have the power to administer oaths and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of relevant evidence, including witnesses and documents presented by the parties, and the provisions of the County and Municipal Investigations Law, P.L. 1953, C. 38 (C.2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.
4.
The testimony of all witnesses relating to an application for development shall be taken under oath or affirmation by the presiding officer, or such other person as he may designate, and the right of cross-examination shall be permitted to all interested parties through their attorneys, if represented, or directly, if not represented, subject to the discretion of the presiding officer and reasonable limitations as to time and number of witnesses.
5.
Technical rules of evidence shall not be applicable to the hearing, but the Board may exclude irrelevant, immaterial or unduly repetitious evidence.
d.
Public Notice of a Hearing.
1.
Public notice of a hearing shall be given for the following applications for development:
(a)
Any request for a variance;
(b)
Any request for conditional use approval;
(d)
Any request for site plan and/or subdivision approval involving one or more of the aforesaid elements;
(e)
Any request for preliminary approval of a major subdivision and/or preliminary major site plan; and
(f)
Any request for approval of a planned development.
2.
The Secretary of the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Adjustment, as the case may be, shall notify the applicant at least two weeks prior to the public hearing at which the application will be discussed. Notice of a hearing requiring public notice shall be given by the applicant at least 10 days prior to the date of the hearing in the following manner:
(a)
By publication in an official newspaper of the Township, if there is one, or in a newspaper of general circulation in the Township in the absence of an official newspaper.
(b)
By notification by personal service or certified mail to the following. An affidavit of proof of the giving of the required notice shall be filed by the applicant with the municipal agency at, or prior to, the hearing. It is not required that a return receipt is obtained; notice is deemed complete upon mailing (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-14).
(1)
To all owners of real property as shown on the current tax duplicate, located in the State and within 200 feet in all directions of the property which is the subject of the hearing; provided that this requirement shall be deemed satisfied by notice to the: (1) condominium association, in the case of any unit owner whose unit has a unit above or below it; or (2) horizontal property regime, in the case of any co-owner whose apartment has an apartment above or below it.
i. | Notice to a partnership owner may be made by service upon any partner. |
ii. | Notice to a corporate owner may be made by service upon its president, a vice-president, secretary or other person authorized by appointment or by law to accept service on behalf of the corporation. |
iii. | Notice to a condominium association, horizontal property regime, community trust or homeowner's association, because of its ownership of common elements or areas located within two 200 feet of the property which is the subject of the hearing, may be made in the same manner as to a corporation without further notice to unit owners, co-owners, or homeowners on account of such common element or areas. |
(2)
To the Clerk of any adjoining municipality or municipalities when the property involved is located within 200 feet of said adjoining municipality or municipalities.
(3)
To the Somerset County Planning Board when the application for development involves property adjacent to an existing County road or proposed road as shown on the County Official Map or County Master Plan, adjoining other County land or situated within 200 feet of a municipality boundary.
(4)
To the Commissioner of Transportation of the State of New Jersey when the property abuts a State highway.
(5)
To the Director of the Division of State and Regional Planning in the Department of Community Affairs when the hearing involves an application for the development of property which exceeds 150 acres or 500 dwelling units, in which case the notice shall include a copy of any maps or documents required to be filed with the Township.
3.
Upon the written request of an applicant, the Township Tax Assessor shall, within seven days, make and certify a list from current tax duplicates of names and addresses of owners within the Township to whom the applicant is required to give notice. The applicant shall be charged $0.25 per name or $10, whichever is greater, for said list and shall be entitled to rely upon the information contained in such list, and failure to give notice to any lot owner not on the list shall not invalidate any hearing or proceeding. Additionally, the applicant shall be responsible for giving proper notice to all property owners pursuant to Subsection 16-7.6d2(b) above who do not reside within the Township.
4.
The notice shall state the date, time and place of the hearing and the nature of the matters to be discussed, and an identification of the property proposed for development by street address, if any, and by reference to lot and block numbers as shown on the current tax duplicate in the Township Tax Assessor's office, and the location and times at which any maps or documents for which approval is sought are available for inspection.
e.
Records.
1.
Minutes of every regular or special meeting shall be kept and shall include the names and addresses of the persons appearing and addressing the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Adjustment, and any persons appearing by attorney, the action taken by the Planning or Zoning Board, the findings, if any, made by it and the reasons therefor. The minutes shall thereafter be made available, after approval by the Board, for public inspection during the normal business hours at the office of the Administrative Officer. Any interested party shall have the right to compel production of the minutes for use as evidence in any legal proceedings concerning the subject matter of such minutes. Such interested party shall be charged a reasonable fee for the reproduction of the minutes, as indicated in Subsection 16-9.1 of this chapter.
2.
A verbatim recording shall be made of every hearing. The recording of the proceedings shall be made either by stenographer, mechanical or electrical means. The municipality shall furnish a transcript or duplicate recording in lieu thereof on request to any interested party at his expense, provided that the charge for a transcript shall not exceed the maximum amount permitted in N.J.S.A. 2A:11-15, and as indicated in Subsection 16-9.1 of this chapter. Each transcript shall be certified in writing by the transcriber to be accurate.
f.
Decisions.
1.
Each decision on any application for development shall be reduced to writing by the Board and shall include findings of facts and conclusions based thereon.
2.
The Board shall provide the findings and conclusions through:
(a)
A resolution adopted at a meeting held within the time period provided in this chapter for action by the Board on the application for development; or
(b)
A memorializing resolution adopted at a meeting held no later than 45 days after the date of the meeting at which the Board voted to grant or deny approval. Only the members of the Board who voted for the action taken may vote on the memorializing resolution, and the vote of a majority of such members present at the meeting at which the resolution is presented for adoption shall be sufficient to adopt the resolution. An action pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-9 (resulting from the failure of a motion to approve an application) shall be memorialized by resolution as provided above, with those members voting against the motion for approval being the members eligible to vote on the memorializing resolution.
3.
The vote on any memorializing resolution shall be deemed to be a memorialization of the action of the Board and not to be an action of the Board; however, the date of the adoption of the resolution shall constitute the date of the decision for purposes of the mailings, filings and publications required in Subsection 16-7.8 of this chapter.
4.
If the Board fails to adopt a resolution or memorializing resolution as hereinabove specified, any interested party may apply to the Superior Court in a summary manner for an order compelling the Board to reduce its findings and conclusions to writing within a stated time and the cost of the application, including attorneys fees, shall be assessed against the municipality.