Com. of PA v. R. Jannini

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 13, 2019
Docket566 C.D. 2018
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. of PA v. R. Jannini (Com. of PA v. R. Jannini) 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
Com. of PA v. R. Jannini, (Pa. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania : : : v. : No. 566 C.D. 2018 : Submitted: March 29, 2019 Ralph Jannini, : Appellant :

BEFORE: HONORABLE RENÉE COHN JUBELIRER, Judge HONORABLE ROBERT SIMPSON, Judge HONORABLE MICHAEL H. WOJCIK, Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE COHN JUBELIRER FILED: August 13, 2019

Before the Court is an appeal by Ralph Jannini (Appellant), pro se, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County (trial court) dated March 9, 2018, finding Appellant guilty of violating an ordinance that limits the height of certain vegetation. The issues before this Court are whether the ordinance is unconstitutionally vague and not a valid exercise of police power and whether the trial court abused its discretion or erred as a matter of law when considering the sufficiency of the evidence and evaluating Appellant’s claim of selective prosecution. Upon review, we affirm. In 2015, Appellant received multiple citations for allegedly violating Greensboro Borough (Borough) ordinances related to vegetation height, property maintenance, and gutters. Preliminarily, a magisterial district judge found Appellant guilty of all charges. Following this, Appellant appealed to the trial court, which consolidated the appeals at Appellant’s request. (Record (R.) Item 27.)1 This case was postponed by several continuances requested by both parties. Ultimately, all of the charges except for one citation were withdrawn by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Commonwealth) or dismissed by the trial court. The single remaining citation at issue related to the height of certain Pokeweed plants on Appellant’s property, which the Commonwealth contended violated Greensboro Ordinance Number 2015-6 (Ordinance). Section 1 of the Ordinance provides:

No person, firm, corporation or contractor owning or occupying any property within the Borough of Greensboro, shall permit any grass or weeds or any vegetation whatsoever, not edible or not planted for some useful or ornamental purpose, to grow or remain upon such premises so as to exceed a height of eight (8) inches, or to throw off any unpleasant or noxious odor, or to conceal any filthy deposit. Any grass, weeds, or other vegetation growing upon any premises in the Borough in violation of any of the provisions of this section is hereby declared to be a nuisance and detrimental to the health, safety, cleanliness and comfort of the inhabitants of the [B]orough.

(Ordinance § 1 (Jan. 12, 2015).) On the merits of this citation, the trial court conducted a view of Appellant’s property on November 7, 2017. At the subsequent hearing, the trial court explained that during the view it pointed out plants that were acceptable, and those that were not, and advised Appellant that his concern was the Pokeberry around a telephone pole and by the front steps, which the trial court described as five to six-feet high. (Jan. 8, 2018 Hr’g Tr. at 15, 40.) The trial court indicated that, during the view, Appellant stated that he would “think about” cutting or removing them. (Id. at 40.) Approximately one month after the view, the trial court held a status conference for

1 Although consolidated, it appears the trial court continued to maintain three separate dockets. Citations to the record refer to the original record for Docket No. 38-SA-2015.

2 the parties to update the trial court on any progress towards compliance. Following the status conference, the trial court issued an order docketed on December 11, 2017, wherein the trial court stated, “The Court, in the view of the property, does believe that the [Appellant] is in violation of the [Ordinance].” (R. Item 36.) However, the trial court, cognizant that Appellant had yet to present his defense, proceeded to a hearing on January 8, 2018. At the start of the hearing, the trial court reiterated that he thought the Commonwealth met its burden with the view and inquired whether Appellant had removed the Pokeberry, to which Appellant responded that he had not, except for some plants that were nonproductive or suffered frost. (Jan. 8, 2018 Hr’g Tr. at 5-6.) After extensive discussion with the parties, the trial court proceeded with the hearing, at which Appellant called the Code Enforcement Officer to testify as if on cross-examination. To begin, Code Enforcement Officer testified to the notice given to Appellant within the issued citation. Code Enforcement Officer further testified, in response to Appellant’s questioning about selective prosecution, that he has cited seven or eight properties over the summer and the only property, for which a citation has not been issued, is the property owned by the municipality, which is immune from prosecution. (Id. at 17, 80.) Appellant also testified, in his own defense, that he carefully maintains most of his property and is trying to return portions to its natural state.2 He stated “we’re talking about a four-foot border on the front edge of the property and on the right-

2 In his post-hearing memorandum to the trial court, Appellant stated he began The Church Institute with a mind toward conservation and a biodiverse landscape and claimed that the program is “a vehicle to demonstrate practical conservation practices . . . in an age of environmental uncertainty.” (Appellant’s Memorandum to the trial court at 2, Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 12a.)

3 hand[] side. Everything else is maintained.” (Id. at 43.) The trial court agreed that Appellant made efforts to maintain his property. Specifically, the trial court stated:

. . . I was there. I can tell what you mow, I’m not going to . . . paint a picture in Court today that it’s like a vacant lot or an abandoned lot, or it has tires, or . . . is in any state of disrepair[.] I’m just saying . . . there’s [P]okeberries coming right along the road, right through the cracks of the walls there, right where you’re mowing . . . . (Id. at 47.) Appellant further contested the constitutionality of the Ordinance, which he claimed was vague and ambiguous. He also stated that he “really like[d] [P]okeberries” and was being denied the right to use his property as he wanted. (Id. at 49, 91.) In addition, Appellant argued, generally, the Ordinance was not uniformly enforced. Appellant also argued that Pokeberry was edible and useful for birds and pollination and can be used in making ink. The trial court was not persuaded by Appellant’s argument, stating “[e]verybody in the Courtroom would know what [Pokeberry] was, and every farmer would come in here, one after another, and tell me it wasn’t useful.” (Id. at 16.) Following the close of the record, the trial court requested memorandums of law from the parties. In consideration of the evidence and parties’ arguments, the trial court found Appellant guilty of violating the Ordinance by Order dated March 9, 2018, and fined him $500. First, the trial court found no evidence of selective prosecution. (Order at 2.) In response to Appellant’s constitutionality argument, the trial court next noted that the Ordinance at issue contains “similar language [to what] has been upheld by [this Court,]” citing Commonwealth v. Siemel, 686 A.2d 899 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996), and that it adequately provides notice to a property owner of what conduct is prohibited. (Id. at 2-3.) The trial court also found that “in some situations

4 the height of certain plants that are not ornamental can be regulated pursuant to the [municipality’s] police power.” (Id. at 3.) The trial court stated it “focused on two weeds that were on the very edge of [Appellant]’s property, one growing through a front wall and the other growing on the northern edge of [Appellant]’s property,” which it observed during its view. (Id.

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Bluebook (online)
Com. of PA v. R. Jannini, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-of-pa-v-r-jannini-pacommwct-2019.