Horvath Towers V, LLC v. Indiana Twp. Bd. of Supers.

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 10, 2020
Docket1579 C.D. 2019
StatusUnpublished

This text of Horvath Towers V, LLC v. Indiana Twp. Bd. of Supers. (Horvath Towers V, LLC v. Indiana Twp. Bd. of Supers.) 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
Horvath Towers V, LLC v. Indiana Twp. Bd. of Supers., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Horvath Towers V, LLC, : Appellant : : v. : : Indiana Township Board of : Supervisors and Paul Didomenico, : John Whelan, Darlene Whelan, NPDCO : LLC, Rosalyn Didomenico, Pamela : No. 1579 C.D. 2019 Didomenico and Nick Didomenico : Submitted: May 15, 2020

BEFORE: HONORABLE P. KEVIN BROBSON, Judge HONORABLE ANNE E. COVEY, Judge HONORABLE BONNIE BRIGANCE LEADBETTER, Senior Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE COVEY FILED: June 10, 2020

Horvath Towers V, LLC (Applicant) appeals from the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court’s (trial court) October 16, 2019 order affirming the Indiana Township (Township) Board of Supervisors’ (Board) decision denying a conditional use application to construct a communications tower (Application) in the Township. There are two issues before this Court: (1) whether Applicant satisfied all Township Zoning Ordinance1 (Ordinance) requirements and whether the objectors failed to meet their burden of establishing that approval would substantially affect the community’s health, safety and welfare; and (2) whether the Board’s denial constitutes a violation of the Telecommunications Act of 19962 (TCA). After review, we affirm.

1 Township Ordinance No. 368, as amended. 2 47 U.S.C. §§ 151-624. Applicant is a communications tower infrastructure provider that owns and operates thousands of communications tower sites. On September 11, 2018, Applicant and Pittsburgh SMSA Limited Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless (Verizon)3 filed the Application for a telecommunications tower facility (Communications Facility4) at 395 Francioni Hill Lane in Glenshaw, Pennsylvania (Property). The Property is 7.446 acres and is located in the Township’s Medium Density Residential (MDR) zoning district.5 Applicant entered into an Option and Land Lease Agreement (Lease) to lease a 100’ x 100’ portion of the Property (Leased Premises) for the proposed Communications Facility from owners Valentino and Norma Francioni (Lessors). On September 22, 2018, the Township’s engineer informed Applicant that the Application was incomplete. On January 17, 2019, Applicant submitted the complete Application. On January 23, 2019, the Township Planning Commission recommended the Application be denied. On February 12, 2019, the Board held a public hearing on the Application. See Reproduced Record (R.R.) at 3a. Applicant presented testimony and documentary evidence in support of its Application. Numerous residents presented lay and expert testimony and documentary evidence in opposition (Objectors) to the Application. At the hearing’s conclusion, the Board denied the Application on the basis that Applicant had not met its burden of

3 Verizon did not appeal from the Board’s decision. 4 Section 201 of the Ordinance defines “Communications Facilities” as: Any communications tower and its associated structures (Antenna(c)) operated by any person, agency or corporation, not otherwise a public utility regulated by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, who or which furnishes mobile domestic cellular radio telecommunications services, or other communications services, including commercial radio and television, of any type for public or private use. Reproduced Record at 485a. 5 Section 302 of the Ordinance permits a Communications Facility as a conditional use in an MDR zoning district. 2 demonstrating that it satisfied the requirements of the following subsections of Section 511.B.1. of the Ordinance: a, c, d, f, i, j, l, m, n, o and p; that Applicant did not demonstrate compliance with the General Criteria set forth in Section 511.A.1.b of the Ordinance; that Objectors showed a high probability that the proposed use would create an adverse impact; and that denial of the Application did not violate the TCA. Applicant appealed to the trial court. On October 16, 2019, the trial court denied the appeal and affirmed the Board’s decision, concluding that Applicant failed to satisfy the requirements of Section 511.B.1.a of the Ordinance. The trial court did not address the Board’s conclusions that Applicant had not demonstrated compliance with other Ordinance provisions. Applicant appealed to this Court.6 Initially, this Court has explained:

‘[A] conditional use is nothing more than a special exception which falls within the jurisdiction of the municipal governing body rather than the zoning hearing board.’ [In re] Thompson, 896 A.2d [659,] 670 [(Pa. Cmwlth. 2006)]. Just like special exceptions, a conditional use is not an exception to a municipality’s zoning ordinance, ‘but rather a use to which [an] applicant is entitled[,] provided the specific standards enumerated in the ordinance for the [conditional use] are met by the applicant.’ Id. (citations omitted). In recognition of the similarity between special exceptions and conditional uses, courts apply the same standards of proof to both types of applications. The applicable standard of proof requires an applicant to demonstrate that the use proposed in an application complies with the specific criteria of the particular ordinance. An applicant who [sic] satisfies this prima facie burden is entitled to approval, unless objectors in the proceeding offer credible and sufficient evidence indicating that the proposed use would have a detrimental impact on

6 “Generally, where the trial court takes no additional evidence, appellate review in a land development appeal is limited to determining whether the local governing body committed an error of law or an abuse of discretion.” In re AMA/Am. Mktg. Ass’n, 142 A.3d 923, 930 n.5 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2016). 3 public health, safety, and welfare. In referring to ‘specific’ criteria in a conditional use provision, we have observed that ‘[s]pecificity is the essential characteristic of operative [conditional use] requirements in an ordinance. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has long defined a special exception as one allowable where requirements and conditions detailed in the ordinance are found to exist.’ Bray v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment, . . . 410 A.2d 909, 911 ([Pa. Cmwlth.] 1980) (emphasis in original).

Williams Holding Grp., LLC v. Bd. of Supervisors of W. Hanover Twp., 101 A.3d 1202, 1212 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014) (citations omitted). It is an applicant’s burden to prove that the proposed plan complies with all of the zoning ordinance’s objective requirements. Thompson. “In conditional use proceedings where the trial court has taken no additional evidence, the Board is the finder of fact, empowered to judge the credibility of witnesses and the weight afforded to their testimony; a court may not substitute its interpretation of the evidence for that of the Board.” In re Richboro CD Partners, L.P., 89 A.3d 742, 754-55 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2014). This Court “must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the party who [sic] prevailed before the fact- finder, giving that party the benefit from all reasonable inferences arising from the evidence.” Marshall v. Charlestown Twp. Bd. of Supervisors, 169 A.3d 162, 169 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2017). Applicant contends that it met its burden of demonstrating compliance with all objective conditional use criteria.

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Horvath Towers V, LLC v. Indiana Twp. Bd. of Supers., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/horvath-towers-v-llc-v-indiana-twp-bd-of-supers-pacommwct-2020.