Ocean City City Zoning Code
ARTICLE 800
Zoning Board of Adjustment
§ 25-800.1 Establishment, Membership and Organization.
[Amended 9-12-2025 by Ord. No. 25-11; 1-8-2026 by Ord. No. 25-17]
a.
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-69, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, also known as the "Board of Adjustment", is hereby continued to consist of seven (7) members and two (2) alternates.
b.
The members of the Board of Adjustment shall be residents of the City of Ocean City appointed by the City Council. The terms of the members shall be four (4) years and until appointment of their successors. Two (2) members shall be first appointed for a term of three (3) years and shall serve until their successors are appointed. Thereafter, the term of each member shall be four (4) years from the date of appointment and until appointment of his successor. Alternate members shall be designated by the Chairman of the Zoning Board of Adjustment as "Alternate #1" and "Alternate #2" and shall serve in rotation during the absence or disqualification of any regular member or members. The term of each alternate member shall be two (2) years and said alternate shall serve until the appointment of his successor. No member may hold any elective office or position under the City of Ocean City. 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 City 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 City of Ocean City employee.
d.
A vacancy on the Board of Adjustment is created when a member resigns, a member's term of appointment ends, or when a member is disqualified by the body of competent jurisdiction after finding a member ineligible. The resignation of a board member shall be placed in writing to the Chairman of the Board of Adjustment.
e.
When a vacancy on the Board of Adjustment arises, the Chairman shall notify the City Clerk and the City Clerk shall notify City Council of the vacancy. Notice soliciting qualified residents wishing to apply for the vacant position and providing the form of application shall be publicly advertised on the city's website for a period of 30 days before the deadline to submit written application to fill the vacancy.
f.
Applicants for a position on the Board of Adjustment shall be interviewed by City Council in Closed Session and selected by majority of vote of City Council members during a public meeting of City Council. Applicants who were previously interviewed by City Council but were not thereafter appointed to the Board may be appointed by a majority vote of City Council members. without a second interview.
g.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, City Council may re-appoint a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment whose term of appointment is ending or has ended without publicly advertising for applicants and without interviewing the member.
§ 25-800.2 Powers.
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 error in any order, requirement, decision or refusal made by the Zoning Officer, based on or made in the enforcement of this Ordinance.
2.
Hear and decide requests for interpretation of the zone map or zoning regulations or for decisions upon other special questions upon which such Board is authorized to pass by the provisions of this Ordinance.
3.
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 regulation area or dimension of this Ordinance 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 where in an application or appeal relating to a specific piece of property the purposes of this act[1] would be advanced by a deviation from the Zoning Ordinance requirements and the benefits of the deviation would substantially outweigh any detriment, grant a variance to allow departure from regulations pursuant to Article 8 of this act; provided, however, that no variance from those departures enumerated in Subsection a,4 of this section shall be granted under this paragraph; 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.
[1]
Editor's Note: References contained herein to "this act" refer to the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law (P.L. 1975, Chapter 291).
4.
In particular cases and for special reasons, grant a variance to allow departure from regulations pursuant to Article 8 of this act to permit (1) a use or principal structure in a district restricted against and use or principal structure, (2) an expansion of a nonconforming use, (3) deviation from a specification or standard pertaining solely to a conditional use, (4) an increase in the permitted floor area ratio, (5) an increase in the permitted density except as applied to the required lot area for a lot or lots for detached one (1) or two (2) dwelling unit buildings which lot or lots are either an isolated undersized lot or lots resulting from a minor subdivision. A variance under this subsection shall be granted only by affirmative vote of two-thirds (2/3) of the full authorized membership of the board.
5.
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 regulations of this Ordinance. An application under this section may be referred to any appropriate person or agency, including the Planning Board of the City of Ocean City, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-26, for its report, provided that such reference shall not exceed the period of time within which the Board of Adjustment is required to act.
§ 25-800.3 Other Powers.
a.
On appeals to it, the Zoning 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 power of the administrative officer from whom the appeal is taken.
b.
With respect to appeal, the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall also have the power to:
1.
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-34 for a building or structure in the bed of a mapped street or public drainageway, flood control basin or public area reserved pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-32.
2.
Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36 for a building or structure not related to a street.
c.
The Zoning 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 N.J.S.A. 40:55D-37 through N.J.S.A. 40:55D-59, inclusive, or conditional use approval pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-67 whenever the Zoning Board of Adjustment is reviewing an application for approval of a variance pursuant to § 25-800.2a,4 or N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70(d).
§ 25-800.4 Appeals and Applications to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
a.
Appeals to the Zoning 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 twenty (20) days by filing a Notice of Appeal to the administrative officer of the department, board, bureau or agency of the municipality from which the appeal is taken, specifying the grounds of such appeal. The Administrative Officer from whom the appeal is taken shall immediately transmit to the Zoning Board of Adjustment all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed was taken.
b.
A developer may file an application for development with the Zoning Board of Adjustment for action under any of its powers without prior application to an Administrative Officer.
c.
With respect to all appeals or applications for development, the applicant shall obtain all necessary forms from the Zoning Board of Adjustment Administrative Officer. Information regarding the steps to be taken, as well as the regular meeting dates of the Zoning Board of Adjustment, shall be obtained by the applicant from the Secretary of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Three (3) copies of all applications for development shall be filed with the Zoning Board of Adjustment Administrative Officer. At the time of filing an appeal or an application for development, the applicant shall, and in no event less than fourteen (14) days prior to the date set for the hearing, also file all plats, maps or other plans required by virtue of this Ordinance, any other ordinance of the municipality, or any rule of the Zoning Board of Adjustment.
d.
An appeal to the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall stay all proceedings in the furtherance of the action in respect to which the decision appealed from was made unless the Administrative Officer from whose action the appeal is taken certifies to the Zoning 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 of New Jersey upon notice to the Administrative Officer from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.
§ 25-800.5 Time for Decision.
a.
The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall render a decision not later than one hundred twenty (120) days after the date:
1.
An appeal is taken from the decision of an Administrative Officer; or
2.
After the date of the submission of a complete application for development to the Zoning Board of Adjustment pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-72(b).
Failure of the Zoning Board of Adjustment to render a decision within such one hundred twenty (120) day period or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant shall constitute a decision favorable to the applicant.
b.
Whenever an application for development requests relief pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-76(b), the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall grant or deny approval of the application within one hundred twenty (120) days after submission by the applicant of a complete application to the Zoning Board Administrative Officer or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Failure of the Zoning Board of Adjustment to act within the period described shall constitute approval of the application and a certificate of the Zoning Board Administrative Officer as to the failure of the Zoning Board of Adjustment to act shall be issued on request of the applicant.
