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[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-16]
No member of the Planning Board 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 not continue to sit with the Board on the hearing of such matter nor participate in any discussion or decision relating thereto.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-17]
a. 
Meetings of the 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.
b. 
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 the Board's members and the public in accordance with all applicable legal requirements.
c. 
No action shall be taken at any meeting without a quorum being present.
d. 
All actions shall be taken by majority vote of a quorum except as otherwise required by any provisions of the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S. 40:55D-1 et seq.
e. 
All regular meetings and all special meetings shall be open to the public. Notice of all such meetings shall be given in accordance with the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Law, N.J.S. 10:4-6 et seq.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-18; New]
Minutes of every regular or special meeting shall be kept and shall include the names of the persons appearing and addressing the Board and of the persons appearing by attorney, the action taken by the Board, the findings, if any, made by it and reasons therefor. The minutes shall thereafter be made available for public inspection during normal business hours at the Office of the Board Secretary. 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 fee for reproduction of the minutes for his use as provided for in the rules of the Board.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-19; Ord. No. 1788-99 § 1; Ord. No. 1921-04 § 1; Ord. No. 1944-05 § 1; Ord. No. 1946-05 § 1; Ord. No. 1995-07 § 1; Ord. No. 2180-15]
a. 
Fees for the Review of Development Applications shall be as stated in Chapter 16, Fees.
b. 
In addition to the application fees set forth above, the Planning Board may charge the applicant an amount equal to the fee(s) which the Board pays to an engineer, planner or attorney to review the development application. If the Board determines that it is necessary to retain the services of an engineer, planner or attorney to review the development application, the applicant shall be required to pay an initial deposit and such other additional deposits as may be required to offset these special review costs incurred by the Board.
In the event any development application requires more than two hearings, or should an applicant request and be granted a special meeting date, the Planning Board shall charge the applicant the fee as stated in Chapter 16, Fees for such meeting.
c. 
The amount of the initial deposit shall be as stated in Chapter 16, Fees.
d. 
The initial deposit shall be held in an escrow account to the credit of the applicant and the Clerk of the Planning Board shall be responsible to keep records to determine the special review costs attributable to each application. The Clerk of the Planning Board shall, from time to time, charge such special review costs against the escrow account of each applicant. In the event it is determined that the initial deposit is insufficient to cover such costs, the applicant shall deposit additional funds to the account as determined by the Planning Board. The Planning Board shall not be required to process the application or take further action upon an application until such additional deposits are made by the applicant. Any excess funds remaining after review of the application shall be returned to the applicant.
e. 
At the time of the filing of the development application, the Planning Board shall have the applicant sign an agreement consenting to pay both the application fee and the special review costs incurred by the Board. The agreement shall specifically state that in the event the fees imposed by the Planning Board are not paid, any development approvals granted by the Planning Board shall be considered null and void. In the event that additional deposits requested by the Planning Board remain unpaid for a period of 60 days, the development application shall be deemed to be withdrawn and shall be dismissed without prejudice.
f. 
The Planning Board shall have the authority to waive fees or special review charges of any development applications made by bona fide charitable, eleemosynary, educational, cultural or other organizations or associations which are operated on a nonprofit basis. The production of a certified copy of a certificate of incorporation, issued pursuant to Title 15 of the Revised Statutes of New Jersey, shall be presumptive evidence that the applicant is a nonprofit entity.
g. 
Tax Map Maintenance Fee.
1. 
The fees as stated in Chapter 16, Fees, shall be paid by the applicant at the time of filing a development application:
2. 
In the event that a development application is denied and the application is no longer pending before the Planning Board, then any portion of this fee which has not been expended for maintaining the municipal tax map shall be refunded to the applicant.
h. 
Appeal of Zoning Officer's Decision.
[Added 12-21-2020 by Ord. No. 2328-20]
1. 
The fees as stated in Chapter 16, Fees, shall be paid by the applicant at the time of filing the appeal application.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-20]
a. 
Rules. The Planning Board may make rules governing the conduct of hearings before such body, which rules shall not be inconsistent with the provisions of the Municipal Land Use Law, N.J.S. 40:55D-1 et seq., or the provisions of this chapter.
b. 
Oaths. The officer presiding at the hearing or such person as he may designate shall have 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, N.J.S. 2A:67A-1 et seq., shall apply.
c. 
Testimony. The testimony of all witnesses relating to an application for development shall be taken under oath or affirmation by the presiding officer, 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 to reasonable limitations as to time and number of witnesses.
d. 
Evidence. Technical rules of evidence shall not be applicable to the hearing, but the Board may exclude irrelevant, immaterial or unduly repetitious evidence.
e. 
Records. The Board shall provide for the verbatim recording of the proceedings by either stenographer or mechanical or electronic means. The Board shall furnish a transcript or duplicate recording in lieu thereof on request to any interested party at his expense.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-21]
Whenever a hearing is required on an application for development pursuant to N.J.S. 40:55D-1 et seq., the applicant shall give notice thereof in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S. 40:55D-12.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-22; Ord. No. 2180-15]
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S. 40:55D-12, the Municipal Tax Assessor shall, within seven days after receipt of a request therefor and upon payment of a fee as stated in Chapter 16, Fees, make and certify a list from the current tax duplicate of the names and addresses of owners to whom an applicant is required to give notice pursuant to this chapter.
The applicant shall be entitled to rely on the validity of this list for a period of 120 days. Thereafter, the applicant shall be responsible to determine if any changes in ownership have occurred which affect the validity of the list of property owners furnished by the Municipal Tax Assessor.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-23]
a. 
Each decision on any application for development shall be set forth in writing as a resolution of the Board, which resolution shall include findings of fact and legal conclusions based thereon.
b. 
A copy of the decision shall be mailed by the Board within 10 days of the date of decision to the applicant or, if represented, to his attorney, without separate charge.
A copy of the decision shall also be mailed to all persons who have requested it and who have paid the fee prescribed by the Board for such service. A copy of the decision shall also be filed in the Office of the Municipal Clerk, who shall make a copy of such filed decision available to any interested party upon payment of a fee calculated in the same manner as those established for copies of other public documents in the municipality.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-24]
A brief notice of every final decision shall be published in the official newspaper of the municipality. The publication shall be arranged by the Secretary of the Planning Board, without separate charge to the applicant. The notice shall be sent to the official newspaper for publication within 10 days of the date of any such decision.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-25]
Pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S. 40:55D-39 and N.J.S. 40:55D-65, every application for development submitted to the Planning Board shall be accompanied by proof that no taxes or assessments for local improvements are due or delinquent on the property which is the subject of such application; or, if it is shown that taxes or assessments are delinquent on said property, any approvals or other relief granted by the Board shall be conditioned upon either the prompt payment of such taxes or assessments or the making of adequate provision for the payment thereof in such manner that the municipality will be adequately protected.
[Ord. No. 1732-97 § 73-26]
Any variance granted by the Planning Board pursuant to N.J.S. 40:55D-70d shall expire by limitation, unless such construction, alteration or use shall have been actually commenced on each and every structure permitted by the variance or unless such use has actually been commenced within nine months from the date of entry of the judgment or determination of the Planning Board; except, however, that the running of the period of limitation herein provided shall be tolled from the date of filing an appeal from the decision of the Planning Board to the Governing Body or to a Court of competent jurisdiction until the termination in any manner of such appeal or proceeding. Any construction commenced within the nine-month period provided for in this section shall be completed within 18 months of the date of entry of the judgment of the Planning Board; except, however, that the running of the period of limitation shall be tolled from the date of the filing of the appeal from the decision of the Planning Board to the Governing Body or to a Court of competent jurisdiction until the termination in any manner of such appeal or proceeding.
The Planning Board shall have the authority to extend the above provisions for one additional nine-month period upon a developer making application for such extension and paying an extension fee equal to fees established under this chapter.