[Amended 12-26-1995 by Ord. No. 46-95]

A. The City Council shall appoint the members to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which shall consist of seven regular members and which may not have more than two alternate members. All members shall be residents of the City; all terms shall begin on January 1 of the year of their appointment. The alternate members shall be designated at the time of their appointment by the authority appointing them as "Alternate No. 1" and "Alternate No. 2." Board of Adjustment members shall serve without compensation

B. The terms of the members first appointed under this chapter shall be so determined that, to the greatest practicable extent, the expiration of such term shall be distributed, in the case of regular members, evenly over the first four years after their appointment and, in the case of alternate members, evenly over the first two years after their appointment, provided that the initial term of no alternate member shall exceed two years.

C. Therefore, for the three regular members of the Board of Adjustment whose terms expire December 31, 1995, appointments shall be made for their positions as follows: one appointment for a term of one year and two appointments for a term of three years. Further, for the two alternate members of the Board of Adjustment whose terms expire December 31, 1995, appointments shall be made for their positions as follows: "Alternate No. 1" shall be appointed for a term of one year and "Alternate No. 2" shall be appointed for a term of two years. For the four members of the Board of Adjustment whose terms expire December 31, 1997, appointments shall be made for the positions as follows: two appointments for a term of two years and two appointments for a term of four years. Thereafter, the term of each regular member shall be for a period of four years, and the term of each alternate member shall be for a period of two years. No member may hold any elective office or position under the City. A vacancy occurring otherwise than by the expiration of the term shall be filled for the unexpired term only.

D. Alternate members may participate in discussions of the proceedings but may not vote except in the absence or disqualification of a regular member. 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.

All members of the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall be subject to removal for cause upon written charges after public hearing by the City Council.

The Board of Adjustment shall elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman from its members and shall also select a Secretary who may or may not be a Board member or another municipal employee. The Zoning Board of Adjustment may also employ or contract for and fix the compensation of such experts and other staff and services as it may deem necessary. The Board shall not authorize expenditures which exceed, exclusive of gifts or grants, the amount appropriated by the governing body for its use.

There is hereby created the Office of Attorney to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Zoning Board of Adjustment may annually appoint, fix the compensation of or agree upon the rate of compensation of the Zoning Board of Adjustment Attorney, who shall be an attorney other than the Municipal Attorney and licensed to practice in New Jersey.

The Board may adopt and enforce rules and regulations governing its internal operation and the conduct of its members, appellants, attorneys and citizens, not inconsistent with this chapter In the issuance of subpoenas, administration of oaths and taking of testimony, the provisions of the County and Municipal Investigations Law of 1953 (N.J.S.A. 2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.

A. The Board of Adjustment shall have such powers as follows:

(1) Hear and decide appeals pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70a.

(2) Hear and decide requests for interpretations pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70b.

(3) Grant, upon application or appeal, relief for variances pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-70c.

(4) Grant variances to allow departure from regulations pursuant to N.J.S.A 40:55D-70d.

B. The Board of Adjustment shall refer any application for a subdivision or site plan approval made pursuant to this chapter to the Planning Board for its report and recommendation before it takes final action thereon. Such referral shall not extend the time for action by the Board of Adjustment, whether or not the Planning Board has submitted its recommendation or report. Whenever the Planning Board shall have made a recommendation regarding a matter authorized by this chapter to be decided by the Board of Adjustment, such recommendation may be rejected by the Board of Adjustment only when approved by a majority of the full authorized membership of the Board of Adjustment.

C. Whenever possible and beneficial to the community, the Board of Adjustment shall require consolidation of adjoining nonconforming lots, such lots having the same owner, when development or a variance is requested. Within 30 days of any approval of consolidation, the Board of Adjustment shall notify the Tax Assessor's office of such consolidation The Tax Assessor is to implement the consolidation on the tax records within 30 days and send a notice thereof to the Zoning Board of Adjustment.

A. Appeals to the Board of Adjustment may be taken by any interested party. Each appeal shall be taken within 20 days prescribed by the statute by filing a notice of appeal with the officer from whom the appeal was taken, together with three copies of such notice, with the Secretary of the Board of Adjustment. The notice of appeal shall specify the grounds for the appeal. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the Board all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken.

B. Applications addressed to the original jurisdiction of the Board of Adjustment with prior application to an administrative officer shall be filed with the Secretary of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. Three copies of the application shall be filed.

C. At the time of filing the appeal or application, but in no event less than 10 days prior to the date set for hearing, the applicant shall also file all plot plans, maps or other papers required by virtue of any provision of this chapter or any rule of the Board of Adjustment. The applicant shall obtain all necessary forms from the Secretary of the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The Secretary of the Board shall inform the applicant of the steps to be taken to initiate proceedings and of the regular meeting dates of the Board.

D. An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action in respect of which the decision appealed from was made, unless the Construction Code Official from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the 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 cases, proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order, which may be granted by the Board of Adjustment or by the Superior Court of New Jersey on application or notice to the Construction Code Official from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown.

E. The Zoning Board of the City of Long Branch or its duly authorized committee or designee shall issue the required written notice of a complete application and shall specify the deficient items in an incomplete application.

In exercising the power conferred upon it, the Board of Adjustment, in conformity with the Revised Statutes of New Jersey and the amendments thereto, may reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from and make such order, requirement, decision or determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the power of the Construction Code Official. The concurring vote of three members of the Board of Adjustment shall be necessary to reverse any order, requirement, decision or determination of the Construction Code Official or to decide in favor of the application any matter on which it is required to pass under this section or to effect or recommend any exceptions to or variations from the zoning ordinance.

A. The Board of Adjustment shall render its decision not later than 120 days after the date an appeal is taken from the decision of an administrative officer or the submission of a complete application for development to the Board pursuant to the provisions of §69-21. Failure of the Board to render a decision within such one-hundred-twenty-day period or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant shall constitute a decision favorable to the applicant.

B. Where an application for development requests relief pursuant to §69-25B, the Board of Adjustment shall grant or deny approval of the application within 120 days after submission by a developer of a complete application to the Construction Code Official or within such further time as may be consented to by the applicant. Failure of the Board of Adjustment to act within the period prescribed shall constitute approval of the application. A certificate of the Construction Code Official as to the failure of the Board of Adjustment 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 the purposes of filing subdivision plats.

C. Whenever review or approval of the application by the County Planning Board is required by Section 5 of P.L. 1968, c. 285 (N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.3) in the case of a subdivision or Section 8 of P.L. 1968, c. 285 (N.J.S.A. 40:27-6.6) in the case of a site plan, the Board of Adjustment shall condition any that it grants upon timely receipt of a favorable report on the application by the County Planning Board or approvals by the County Planning Board by its failure to report thereon within the required time.

D. An application under this section may be referred to any appropriate person or agency, including the Planning Board, provided that such reference shall not extend the period of time within which the Zoning Board of Adjustment shall act.

Any exception or variance from this section granted by the Board of Adjustment to the applicant permitting the erection or alteration of any structure or structures or permitting a specified use of any premises shall expire by limitation unless construction, alteration or conversion shall have actually commenced on each and every structure permitted by said variance or unless such permitted use has actually been commenced within one year from the date of publication of the notice of the judgment or determination of the Board of Adjustment; 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 Board of Adjustment to the Council, or to a court of competent jurisdiction, until the termination in any manner of such appeal or proceeding. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary set forth in this section, whenever such exception or variance shall be granted in conjunction with a final approval of a site plan or major subdivision, the validity of such exception or variance shall be extended for the initial two-year time period and any subsequent one-year extensions that the applicant may obtain under N.J.S.A. 40:55D-52.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment shall, in addition to the powers specified in §69-20, have power given by law to:

A. 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 on the Official Map.

B. Direct issuance of a permit pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40:55D-36 for a building or structure not related to a street. The 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 Article 6 of Chapter 291, P.L. 1975 whenever the Board is reviewing an application for approval of a use variance pursuant to §69-20A(4).