Carroll Sign Co. v. Adams County Zoning Hearing Board

606 A.2d 1250, 147 Pa. Commw. 42, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 284
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 3, 1992
DocketNo. 1036 C.D. 1991
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 606 A.2d 1250 (Carroll Sign Co. v. Adams County Zoning Hearing Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carroll Sign Co. v. Adams County Zoning Hearing Board, 606 A.2d 1250, 147 Pa. Commw. 42, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 284 (Pa. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

CRAIG, President Judge.

Carroll Sign Company, Inc. appeals a decision of the Court of Common Pleas of Adams County affirming a decision of the Adams County Zoning Hearing Board that denied Carroll’s application for a permit that would allow the company to maintain a billboard it had erected at the interchange of U.S. Routes 30 and 15 in Adams County.

The facts as found by the zoning hearing board are as follows. Carroll is in the business of constructing billboards on property it leases throughout the Commonwealth. Carroll then leases the billboards to individuals and entities seeking to advertise with the billboards.

Carroll sought to lease property at the interchange of U.S. routes 30 and 15 in Adams County for the purpose of erecting and maintaining a commercial billboard.

In December 1989, Carroll contacted the local municipality in which the property is located to determine the nature of municipal regulations regarding the erection of billboards at the site. Carroll spoke to a person whose identity [44]*44is unknown. That person told Carroll that the township had no zoning restrictions, that the township required no building permit for the construction of the billboard, and that Carroll should contact the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (DOT) for a permit. However, Carroll did not inquire about county zoning.

On January 24, 1990, the county adopted Adams County Interchange Zoning Ordinance, which became effective on March 15, 1990. That ordinance provides:

SECTION 1101 SIGN REGULATIONS FOR NON-RESIDENTIAL USES
The following regulations shall govern the number, size, and placement of signs:
A. For uses permitted in HC-Highway Commercial District:
1. A business or commercial sign(s) shall be permitted on the same lot as the use to which it refers, provided that the total sign area on any one street frontage of any property in single and separate ownership conforms to the following requirements which are based upon building frontage limitations:
a. Forty (40) square feet for those establishments where the building frontage facing the adjoining principal road is fifty (50) feet or less.
b. The maximum area of a sign may or the total allocated sign area may be increased by a maximum of one (1) square foot for every three (3) additional feet of building frontage in excess of fifty (50) feet.
c. Under no circumstances shall the total maximum sign area exceed sixty (60) square feet, unless the bonus provisions established in Section 1101.A.l.b. herein are deemed by the Zoning Hearing Officer to apply.
d. In order to encourage businesses to provide the community with an attractive, unified outdoor advertising scheme, it is further provided that the maximum allowable sign area may be increased by fifteen percent (15%) provided that the user chooses to mount a sign or [45]*45a series of signs against the building facade (such a sign may not project outward more than fifteen (15) inches from the facade). Up to six (6) square feet of entitled signage may be devoted to free-standing signs specifically designed and designated to identify “entrances” and “exits”, without prejudicing the fifteen percent (15%) bonus.
2. Business or Commercial signs for establishments not located on the primary road frontage, which is subject to the Highway Commercial — HC District, may, with the consent of the owner of the affected property and, if approved as a special exception by the Zoning Hearing Board, be located at the nearest highway intersection to that establishment. In addressing a request for a Special Exception, the Zoning Hearing Board shall consider the following standards:
a. Said sign shall be located no less than twenty (20) feet, not more than fifty (50) feet from the right-of-way for the primary highway, and no less than fifteen (15) feet from the right-of-way for the intersecting roadway.
b. The sign shall not exceed thirty (30) square feet in area.

The property in question is located within the HC-highway commercial district, as designated in the Adams County Interchange Zoning Ordinance.

Carroll signed a lease with the property owner on March 9, 1990. Carroll applied to DOT for a permit to construct a billboard. Carroll indicated on its permit application that there were no zoning regulations applicable to the property in question; however, DOT billboard permit approval is conditioned on the accuracy of the information provided in the application. DOT approved Carroll’s permit application on April 19, 1990.

Carroll began work on the billboard after DOT approved its permit application.

[46]*46Carroll discovered the existence of the county’s interchange ordinance as the result of phone calls it received from newspaper reporters on May 12 or 13, 1990.

The county issued a formal notice of violation on May 15, 1990. As indicated in § 1101(A)(1) above, the ordinance permits only on-site billboard advertising in that district. Thus, because Carroll’s billboard is not connected to a business located at the site of the billboard, the use is not permitted under the interchange ordinance.

By the time Carroll received the violation notice, 95% of the work on the billboard had been completed, at a total cost of $8,000 to $9,000.

After receiving the violation notice, Carroll completed work on the billboard and leased the sign to commercial customers.

After being cited for the violation, Carroll filed an application for a variance, a reversal of action by the county zoning officer, and a challenge to the substantive validity of the county’s interchange ordinance with the county zoning hearing board. The validity challenge asserted that the ordinance is invalid because it pertains to only a portion of the county, that the county’s power to enact such an ordinance is pre-empted by DOT highway regulations, and that the ordinance is unconstitutional as applied to Carroll’s billboard.

The board concluded that Carroll did not have standing to bring the action because its lease with the property owner became void ninety days after ratification because Carroll did not obtain the necessary approval of Adams County. The board indicated that, assuming Carroll does have standing, it failed to meet its burden of proof for a variance under the ordinance, because (1) it did not establish that denial of a variance would result in unnecessary hardship, or that the land cannot be developed in strict conformity with the ordinance, and (2) any hardship is self-imposed because Carroll entered into a contract to use land in a [47]*47manner inconsistent with the terms of the then existing ordinance.

The board, noting that under section 605 of the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), Act of July 31,1968, P.L. 805, as amended, reenacted by the Act of December 21, 1988, P.L. 1329, 53 P.S. § 10605, counties are not required to develop zoning for the entire county, rejected Carroll’s constitutional challenge. The board concluded that DOT’S power to regulate billboards does not pre-empt the power of local authorities to regulate outdoor advertising.

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Bluebook (online)
606 A.2d 1250, 147 Pa. Commw. 42, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carroll-sign-co-v-adams-county-zoning-hearing-board-pacommwct-1992.