Upper Township City Zoning Code
§ 20-7.1
Planning Board.
[Added 11-10-2025 by Ord. No. 008-2025]
a.
Establishment of the Planning Board.
1.
A Planning Board is hereby established consisting of nine members in accordance with the State Municipal Land Use Law, set forth at N.J.S.A. 40:55D-23, et seq. Up to four alternate members may be appointed in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-23, et seq.
b.
Powers and Jurisdiction of the Planning Board. The Planning Board shall have the power to:
1.
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25c(1), the Planning Board shall exercise, subject to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions, all the powers of a zoning board of adjustment; but the Class I and Class III members shall not be permitted to participate in the consideration of any applications for development which involve relief pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70d.
2.
Make and adopt and amend a Master Plan for the physical development of the Township, including any areas outside its boundaries, which, in the Board's judgment, bear essential relation to the planning of the Township.
4.
Participate in the preparation and review of programs or plans required by State or Federal law or regulations.
5.
Assemble data on a continuing basis as part of a continuous planning process.
6.
May annually prepare a program of municipal capital improvement projects projected over a term of six years, and amendments thereto, and recommend same to the governing body.
7.
Consider and make report to the governing body within 35 days after referral as to any proposed development regulation submitted to it and also pass upon other matters specifically referred to the Planning Board by the Township Committee.
8.
The Planning Board shall have such other powers as prescribed by law.
9.
The Planning Board shall exercise the powers and perform the duties set forth in N.J.A.C. 7:50-6.153(a) and shall issue Certificates of Appropriateness pursuant to Subsection 20-5.14l2 of this chapter.
10.
Direct Issuance of a Permit Within the Bed of a Mapped Street or Flood Control Basin. Direct issuance of a construction permit for the construction of a building or structure within the bed of a mapped street or public drainageway, flood control basin or public area as shown on a duly adopted Official Map Ordinance of the Municipality whenever one or more parcels of land within the bed cannot yield a reasonable return to the owner unless a construction permit is granted. The Board may grant such relief only by an affirmative vote of a majority of the full authorized membership of the Planning Board, ensuring that such relief will tend to cause a minimum change of the Official Map Ordinance and will not significantly add to the cost of opening any proposed street. The Planning Board shall impose reasonable requirements as a condition of granting the construction permit so as to promote the health, morals, safety and general welfare of the public.
11.
Direct Issuance of Permit When Lot Not Abutting a Street. Direct issuance of a construction permit for the construction of a building or structure on a lot not abutting a street which is shown on a duly adopted Official Map Ordinance of the Municipality, or which is a) an existing State, County or Municipal street or highway, or b) a street shown upon a plat approved by the municipal Planning Board, or c) a street on a plat duly filed in the office of the County Recording Officer. The Planning Board may grant such relief only where the enforcement of the statute requirement that a building lot abut a street would entail practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship or where the circumstances of the case do not require the building or structure to abut a street. The Planning Board shall impose requirements or conditions that will provide adequate access for firefighting equipment, ambulances and other emergency vehicles necessary for the protection of the health and safety and will protect any future street layout shown on the Official Map Ordinance or on the general circulation plan element of the municipal Master Plan.
12.
Any municipal variance approval which grants relief from the density or lot area requirements set forth in subsections 20-4.4, 20-4.10 or 20-4.13 for a residential or principal nonresidential use in the PV Zone, in that portion of the TV Zone located in the Pinelands Area or in that portion of the CM Zone located in a Pinelands Village shall require that Pinelands Development Credits be used for all dwelling units or lots in excess of that permitted without the variance.
c.
Actions by the Planning Board.
1.
Appeals to the Planning Board.
(a)
Appeals to the Planning Board may be taken by an interested party affected by any decision of the Construction Official of the Municipality based on or made in the enforcement of this chapter or Official Map. Such appeal shall be taken within 45 days by filing a notice of appeal with the officer from whom the appeal is taken, 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 Planning Board for action under any of its powers without prior application to the Construction Official.
2.
Time for decision.
(a)
The Planning Board shall render a decision not later than 120 days after the date 1) an appeal is taken from the decision of the Construction Official, or 2) the submission of a complete application for development to the Planning Board, as determined by the Secretary of the Planning Board.
(b)
Failure of the Planning 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.
(c)
The Planning Board 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 powers of the Construction Official from whom the appeal is taken.
(d)
An appeal to the Planning Board shall stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action in respect to which the decision appealed from was made, unless the officer from whose action the appeal is taken certifies to the Planning Board, 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.
(e)
Unless otherwise specified by the Planning Board, a variance granted by the Planning Board shall expire and become null and void two years from the grant by the Planning Board, unless within the period, the applicant obtains a construction permit or otherwise avails himself of the grant or approval. The Planning Board, upon application and within the period, may extend the period for one year, but not to exceed three extensions.
3.
Use Variances Involving Subdivision and/or Site Plan and/or Conditional Use Approval.
(a)
Whenever an application for development requests relief pursuant to this subsection, 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 Secretary of the Planning Board or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Failure of the Planning Board to act within the period prescribed shall constitute approval of the application, and a certificate of the Secretary of the Planning Board 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.
4.
Notice of Decision.
(a)
The Secretary of the Planning Board shall mail a copy of the decision to the applicant within 10 days of the date of the decision. If the applicant was represented by an attorney, a copy of the decision shall also be mailed to the attorney. One copy of the decision shall be filed with the Township Clerk and one copy retained for the Planning Board's file.
(b)
The Secretary of the Planning Board shall cause a brief notice of the decision to be published in the official newspaper of the Planning Board or a newspaper of general circulation within the Township of Upper. The period of time in which an appeal of the decision may be made, pursuant to the requirements of the New Jersey Municipal Land Use Law, set forth at N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1, et seq., shall run from the first publication of the decision.