Wenonah City Zoning Code

Meetings of the Combined Planning Board shall be scheduled no less often than once a month and any meeting so scheduled shall be held as scheduled unless canceled for lack of applications for development to process.

Special meetings may be provided for at the call of the Chairman or on the request of any two Board members, which shall be held on notice to its members and the public in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

No action shall be taken at a meeting without a quorum being present, i.e., five or more members. Failure of a motion to receive the number of votes required to approve an application for development shall be deemed an action denying the application.

All actions shall be taken by majority vote of a quorum except as otherwise required by the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.

All regular and special meetings shall be open to the public. A portion of time shall be set aside at every regular or special meeting, during which said meetings shall be opened to the public for the public to offer comments. An executive session for the purpose of discussing and studying any matters to come before the agency shall not be deemed a regular or special meeting within the meaning of this chapter.

Minutes of every regular or special meeting shall be kept and shall include the names of the persons appearing and addressing the municipal agency and of the persons appearing by attorney, the action taken by the municipal agency, and findings, if any, made by it and the reason therefor. The minutes, once approved by the Combined Planning Board as the official minutes, shall thereafter be made available for public inspection during normal business hours at the office of the Combined Planning Board Secretary and the Borough Clerk. Any interested party shall have the right to compel production of the minutes for use as evidence in any legal proceeding concerning the subject matter of such minutes. Such interested party may be charged a reasonable fee for reproduction of the minutes for this use.

No member of the Combined Planning Board shall act on any matter in which he or she had either directly or indirectly any personal or financial interest. Whenever any such member shall disqualify himself or herself from acting on a particular matter, that member shall not continue to sit with the Board of the hearing of such matter and shall not participate in any discussion or decision relating thereto.

The Combined Planning Board shall hold a hearing on each application for development, or adoption, revision or amendment of the master plan. Any maps and documents for which approval is sought at a hearing shall be on file in the Office of the Combined Planning Board Secretary and shall be available for public inspection at least 10 days before the date of the hearing during normal business hours. The applicant may produce other documents, records, or testimony at the hearing to substantiate or clarify or supplement the previously filed maps and documents.

The Combined Planning Board shall make rules governing the conduct of hearings, which rules shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et. seq., or of this chapter. Copies of such Rules and Regulations shall be made available for public inspection in the Office of the Planning Board Secretary, and may be purchased by any member of the public for such fee as is established by Borough ordinance in accordance with law.

The Chairman or Chairwoman presiding at the hearing, or such person as may be designated by the Chairman or Chairwoman, 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. The provisions of P.L. 1953, c. 38 (N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.), and the Rules and Regulations of the combined Planning Board as adopted by resolution of said Board, shall apply in the conduct of all hearings.

The testimony of all witnesses relating to an application for development shall be taken under oath or affirmation by the presiding officer or such person as may be designated 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 subject to reasonable limitations as to time and number of witnesses.

The technical rules of evidence shall not be applicable to the hearing, but the Combined Planning Board may exclude irrelevant, immaterial or unduly repetitious evidence. Letters or petitions in support of, or opposed to, applications before the Combined Planning Board, shall not be admissible, though the writer of a letter or the signer of a petition may appear to testify.

The Combined Planning Board shall provide for the verbatim recording of the proceedings by either a stenographer or by mechanical or electronic means. The Combined Planning Board shall furnish a transcript, or duplicate recording in lieu thereof, on request to any interested party at said party's expense, which expense shall not be more than the actual cost of preparing the transcript or tape. Transcripts shall be certified in writing by the transcriber to be accurate.

Each decision on any application for development shall be in writing and shall include findings of fact, conclusions, conditions (if any) upon which the Combined Planning Board's actions are based thereon. Said writing shall be in the form of a memorializing resolution adopted by the Combined Planning Board at a meeting held no later than 45 days after the meeting at which the Board voted to grant or deny approval. Only members of the Board who were both present at the meeting of the Board wherein the application was adjudicated, and voted for the action taken, may vote on the memorializing resolution, and a 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. If only one member who voted for the action taken attends the meeting at which the resolution is presented for adoption, the resolution may be adopted upon the vote of that member. Where there is a failure of a motion to approve an application, then a resolution shall be prepared to memorialize such a failure within the time frame set forth herein, with those members of the Board voting against the motion for approval being the members eligible to vote on the memorializing resolution. The vote on any such resolution shall be deemed to be a memorialization of the action of the Board, and not to be the action of the Board. However, the date of the adoption of the resolution shall constitute the date of decision of the action taken by the Board.

A copy of the decision shall be mailed by the municipal agency within 10 days of the date of the decision to the applicant, or if represented then to his or her attorney, without separate charge, and to all who request a copy of the decision for a reasonable fee. A copy of the decision shall also be filed by the municipal agency in the office of the Borough Clerk.

A brief notice of the decision shall be published in the official newspaper of the Borough. Such publication shall be arranged by the Secretary of the Combined Planning Board, or the applicant, as directed by the Combined Planning Board. The Combined Planning Board may make a reasonable charge for this service.

Public notice shall be given by publication in the official newspaper of the Borough at least 10 days prior to the date of the hearing.

Notice shall be given to the owners of all real property, as shown on the current tax duplicate, located within 200 feet in all directions of the property which is the subject of such hearing. Such notice shall be given by: 1) serving a copy thereof on the owner as shown on the current tax duplicate or his or her agent in charge of the property, or 2) mailing a copy thereof by prepaid-certified mail, return receipt requested, to the property owner at his or her address as shown on the current tax duplicate. Notice to a partnership may be made by service upon any partner. Notice to a corporation may be made by service upon its president, vice president, secretary or other person authorized by appointment or by law to accept service on behalf of the corporation. Notice to a condominium owner with a unit above or below the unit that is the subject an application may be deemed satisfied with notice to the condominium association. Note to a co-owner with an apartment above or below the unit that is the subject of an application may be deemed satisfied with notice to the horizontal property regime.

Notice of all hearings or applications for development involving property located within 200 feet of an adjoining municipality shall be given by personal service or certified mail to the clerk of such municipality.

Notice shall be given by personal service or certified mail to the county Planning Board of a hearing or an application for development of property adjacent to an existing county, road shown on the Official County Map, adjoining other county land or situate within 200 feet of a municipal boundary.

All notices shall be given at least 10 days prior to the date fixed for hearing and the applicant shall file an affidavit of service with the Combined Planning Board.

Any notice by certified mail shall be deemed complete upon mailing and requesting a return receipt.

All notices required to be given pursuant to the terms of this chapter shall be in such form as is required by the Combined Planning Board and shall state the date, time and place of the hearing, the nature of the matters to be considered, any variances or waivers from the land development regulations of the Borough that have been requested, identification of the property proposed for development by street address, if any, or by reference to lot and block numbers as shown on the current tax duplicate in the tax assessor's office, and the location and times at which any maps and document for which approval is sought are available.

Certified list of owners. Upon the written request of a developer, the Borough Tax Assessor, or the designee, shall, within seven days, make and certify a list from the current tax duplicates of names and addresses of owners within the Borough to whom the developer is required to give notice. In addition, the Borough Tax Assessor shall include on the list the names, addresses and positions of those persons who, not less than seven days prior to the date on which the developer requested the list, have registered to receive notice pursuant to Subsection B of this section. The developer shall be entitled to rely upon the information contained in such list, and failure to give notice to any owner or to any public utility, cable television company, or local utility not on the list shall not invalidate any hearing or proceeding. A sum of $10 may be charged for such list.

Public utility notification. Notice of hearings on applications for approval of a major subdivision or a site plan, not defined as a minor site plan by this chapter, requiring public notice pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall be given to public utilities, cable television companies or local utilities which possess a right-of-way or easement within the Borough and which has registered with the Borough in accordance with N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq. Notice shall be given by personal service or certified mail to the person whose name and address appears on the registration form.

Notice of a hearing on an amendment to the zoning ordinance proposing a change to the classification or boundaries of a zoning district, exclusive of classification or boundary changes recommended in a periodic general reexamination of the master plan by the Combined Planning Board pursuant to Section 76 of P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-89), shall be given prior to adoption in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

A notice pursuant to this section shall state the date, time, and place of the hearing, the nature of the matter to be considered and an identification of the affected zoning districts and proposed boundary changes, if any, by street names, common names, or other identifiable landmarks, and by reference to lot and block numbers as shown on the current tax duplicate in the municipal tax assessor's office.