New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 5 - COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
Chapter 23A - CONSTRUCTION BOARDS OF APPEALS
Subchapter 2 - BOARD PROCEDURES
Section 5:23A-2.2 - Hearing procedures
Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 6, March 18, 2024
(a) All parties to any dispute shall be accorded full opportunity to address the construction board of appeals, present testimony and examine and cross-examine witnesses, consistent with reasonable rules of procedure and due process. All testimony shall be under oath or affirmation. Parties shall be allowed to appear through legal counsel or public or corporate officers. Construction, subcode and fire officials may appear and testify on behalf of their local enforcing agencies.
(b) A quorum of the board for cases arising under the State Uniform Construction Code Act or the Uniform Fire Safety Act shall consist of three regular and/or alternate members. A quorum of the board for cases arising under P.L. 1995, c.54 or P.L. 1999, c. 11 shall consist of four regular and/or alternate and/or special members.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in (d) below, when there are not five regular and/or alternate members present to consider an appeal, or if five regular and/or alternate members are present but a code discipline that is involved in a construction code case is not represented, or if no regular or alternate member who is certified as a fire official is present to hear a fire code case, or if either of the special members, or an alternate meeting the same qualifications requirement, is not present in a case arising under P.L. 1995, c.54 or P.L. 1999, c. 11, either party shall be entitled to have the hearing adjourned. If neither party requests an adjournment, the case may be heard by the board if a quorum is present.
(d) No adjournment shall be granted without the consent of the local enforcing agency having jurisdiction in any case involving issues of life safety in an occupied building. If, in any such case, a quorum is not present, or a quorum is present but does not include either a representative of any construction code discipline that is required to be represented on the board and is involved in the case or a certified fire official, as the case may be, the case shall not be heard and the appeal shall be deemed to have been denied.
(e) At the beginning of each hearing, the chairperson, or the person presiding in his or her absence, shall state for the record the statute under which the appeal is being brought, the nature and date of the action appealed from, the date the appeal was filed and the basis of the appeal. Thereafter, the matter shall proceed with the representative of the municipality or the professional hired by the municipality or municipal agency, as the case may be, explaining the basis for the action, ruling, order, notice or fee, as the case may be. The appellant, or his or her representative, shall then present the basis for his or her disagreement.
(f) In all cases, the board shall have the power to administer oaths and to issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of relevant evidence. The provisions of the "County and Municipal Investigations Law," P.L. 1953, c.38 (2A:67A-1 et seq.) shall apply.