Westville City Zoning Code
ARTICLE III
Planning Board
§ 205-18 Establishment; composition.
There is hereby established pursuant to P.L. 1975, c. 291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.) a Planning Board of seven members, consisting of four classes of members as follows:
B.
Class II: one of the officials of the municipality other than a member of the governing body, to be appointed by the Mayor.
C.
Class III: a member of the governing body, appointed by the governing body.
D.
Class IV: four citizens of the municipality, to be appointed by the Mayor. The members of Class IV shall hold no other municipal office, except that one such member may be a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment and one member may be a member of the Board of Education.
§ 205-19 Terms of office. [1]
The term of the Mayor (Class I) shall correspond with his official tenure, or, if the member is the Mayor's designee in the absence of the Mayor, the designee shall serve at the pleasure of the Mayor during the Mayor's official tenure. The terms of the members composing Class II and Class III shall be for one year or shall terminate at the completion of their respective terms of office, whichever occurs first. The term of a Class IV member who is also a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment or the Board of Education shall terminate whenever he is no longer a member of such other body or at the completion of his Class IV term, whichever occurs first. The terms of all Class IV members first appointed pursuant to this chapter shall be so determined that, to the greatest practicable extent, the expiration of such term shall be evenly distributed over the first four years after their appointment as determined by resolution of the governing body; provided, however, that no term of any member shall exceed four years and further provided that nothing herein shall affect the term of any present member of the Planning Board, all of whom shall continue in office until the completion of the term for which they were appointed. Thereafter all Class IV members shall be appointed for terms of four years except as otherwise herein provided. All terms shall run from January 1 of the year in which the appointment was made.
§ 205-20 Alternate members.
[Added 2-13-1990]
A.
The governing body may also appoint two alternate members of the Planning Board. Alternate members shall be appointed for Class IV members and shall meet the qualifications of Class IV members of the Planning Board. Alternate members shall be designated at the time of appointment by the governing body as "Alternate No. 1" and "Alternate No. 2." The terms of the alternate members shall be for two years, except that the terms of the alternate members shall be such that the term of not more than one alternate member shall expire in any one year; provided, however, that in no instance shall the terms of the alternate members first appointed exceed two years. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by expiration of term shall be filled by the appointing authority for the unexpired term only.
B.
Alternate members may participate in all matters but may not vote except in the absence or disqualification of a regular member of any class. A vote shall not be delayed in order that a regular member may vote instead of an alternate member. In the event that a choice must be made as to which alternate member is to vote, Alternate No. 1 shall vote.[1]
§ 205-21 Compensation.
All members of the Planning Board shall serve without compensation.
§ 205-22 Vote necessary for decision.
The final disposition of any matter by the Board shall require the concurring vote of four of its members.
§ 205-23 Absence from meetings.
When any hearing before a Planning Board shall carry over two or more meetings, a member of the Board who was absent for one or more of the meetings shall be eligible to vote on the matter upon which the hearing was conducted, notwithstanding his absence from one or more of the meetings; provided, however, that such Board member has available to him a transcript or recording of the meeting from which he was absent and certifies in writing to the Board that he has read such transcript or listened to such recording.
§ 205-24 Organization; experts and staff.
The Planning Board is authorized to adopt bylaws and such other rules and regulations as shall be consistent with the provisions of this chapter and P.L. 1975, c .291 (N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.). The Planning Board shall elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman from the members of Class IV, select a Secretary who may or may not be a member of the Planning Board or a municipal employee, and create and fill such other offices as are established by this chapter. It may employ, or contract for, and fix the compensation of legal counsel, other than the Municipal Attorney, and experts and other staff and services as it may deem necessary, not exceeding, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount appropriated by the governing body for its use.
§ 205-25 Powers and duties.
The Planning Board shall be governed by and shall have such powers as are conferred upon it by P.L. 1975, c. 291.[1] The Planning Board shall have the authority to:
A.
Prepare, adopt and, from time to time, amend or revise a Master Plan.
B.
Grant conditional approval.
(1)
Exercise control over the granting of approval of conditional uses and grant to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions as the Zoning Board of Adjustment:
(a)
Variances from lot area, lot dimensional, setback and yard requirements, provided that relief from lot area requirements shall not be granted for more than one lot. If more than one lot is involved, the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act on the variance and, if granted, the Planning Board shall review the development application.
(b)
Direction for issuance of a permit for a building or structure in the bed of a mapped street or public drainageway, flood control basin or public area reserved on an Official Map.
(c)
Direction for issuance of a permit for a building or structure not related to a street.
(2)
Whenever an application for approval of a conditional use includes a request for relief under this section, the Planning Board shall grant or deny approval of the application within 95 days after submission by a developer of a complete application to the administrative officer or within such 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 administrative officer 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.
C.
Exercise such other duties as may be assigned to it by ordinance or resolution of the governing body and perform such other functions as may be authorized by law.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 40:55D-1 et seq.
§ 205-26 Referral powers.
A.
Prior to the adoption of a development regulation, revision or amendment thereto, the Planning Board shall make and transmit to the governing body within 35 days after referral a report including recommendations concerning the proposed development regulation, revision or amendment. The governing body, when considering the adoption of a development regulation, revision or amendment thereto, shall review the report of the Planning Board and may disapprove or change any recommendation by a vote of a majority of its entire membership. It shall record in its minutes the reasons for not following such recommendations. Failure of the Planning Board to transmit its report within the thirty-five-day period provided herein shall relieve the governing body from the requirements of this subsection in regard to the proposed development regulation, revision or amendment previously referred to the Planning Board.
B.
The governing body may by ordinance provide for the reference of any matter to the Planning Board before final action thereon by a municipal body or municipal officer having final authority thereon. Such reference shall not extend the time for action by the referring body, 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 act to another municipal body, such recommendation may be rejected only by a majority of the entire membership of such other body.
§ 205-27 Consolidation of Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment. [1]
[Added 5-14-2003 by Ord. No. 5-03]
The Planning and Zoning Board of Adjustment be hereby consolidated in accordance with statute, and the consolidation shall take effect within 60 days of the final enactment of this section.
[1]
Editor's Note: Ordinance No. 5-03 provided, in part, as follows: "WHEREAS, New Jersey Land Use Law as provided by N.J.S.A. 40:55D-25 et seq. provides that 'in a municipality having a population of 15,000 or less, a nine member Planning Board, if so provided by ordinance, shall exercise, to the same extent and subject to the same restrictions, all the powers of a Board of Adjustment; but the Class 1 and the Class 3 members shall not participate in the consideration of applications for development which involve relief pursuant to Subsection d of Section 57 of Public Laws, 1975, c. 291.'" Although Ord. No. 5-03 did not specify that the name of the new board is to be the Land Use Board, ordinances adopted after Ord. No. 5-03 refer to the Land Use Board. See Ord. No. 2-04 as set forth in § 205-5 of this chapter. References to the Planning Board and/or the Zoning Board of Adjustment which appeared in this chapter other than in the definition of “street” in § 205-3, in Articles III and IV and in § 205-87 have been revised to refer to the Land Use Board. The Borough will, in the future, amend Articles III and IV of this chapter as necessary to reflect the consolidation of the boards. Where a question arises as to the interpretation of a section containing these references, the Borough Attorney should be consulted.