ZONING OFFICER'S JOB

The Administrative Officer (known locally as the Zoning Officer) under the Municipal Land Use Law in New Jersey is the municipal official designated by local ordinance or statute with enforcing the provisions of the zoning ordinance. Due to proposed large scale development which many new Jersey municipalities will be faced with in the coming years, the Administrative Officer is a particularly vital and valued employee of the municipality. The key issues confronting many New Jersey municipalities are should our municipality grow; if so, how much and when? These are crucial questions. Municipalities need some local official to focus exclusively on these questions; an official whose ultimate responsibility is to assist the mayor and council in protecting and improving the quality of life in the community. The Administrative Officer's primary duties should be to serve both the mayor and the council as an expert advisor in planning and development matters and as an operational coordinator of factual information relating to development proposals and their impact upon the community.

Possessed with knowledge of the provisions of the local planning and zoning ordinance and familiarity with the practices and procedures of the municipal boards, the administrative officer can prove to be very helpful to the mayor, council, and board members.

Among the varied duties specified in the Municipal Land Use Law, the Administrative Officer:

receives and reviews certain applications,

certifies subdivision approvals,

certifies statutory default approvals,

certifies prior non-conforming uses,

issues zoning permits,

provides lists of property owners,

receives notices of appeals or protest, and

serves as a depository for certain documents.

The Administrative Officer may also provide support to the municipality by causing building plans or premises to be inspected or examined, to order the remedying of violations and issue certain permits.

Because the Administrative Officer is often the first official an applicant for development comes in contact with, the Administrative Officer serves as a crucial liaison between the applicant, to whom direction and guidance are provided, municipal officials, with whom substantive and procedural knowledge - as well as foresight into proposed developments - are shared, and the municipality itself, whose best interests are the ultimate concern.