Lawrie v. Concord Township Zoning Hearing Board

17 Pa. D. & C.3d 171, 1981 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 531
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County
DecidedJanuary 7, 1981
Docketno. 80-509
StatusPublished

This text of 17 Pa. D. & C.3d 171 (Lawrie v. Concord Township Zoning Hearing Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Delaware County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lawrie v. Concord Township Zoning Hearing Board, 17 Pa. D. & C.3d 171, 1981 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 531 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1981).

Opinion

KELLY, J.,

This is an appeal from a decision of the Zoning Hearing Board of Concord Township.

Appellant, Thomas F. Lawrie, Sr., is the owner of 5.4 acres of ground, located on Route 202 in the township of Concord, with a frontage of 512.46 feet on said highway, and a depth of 400 feet. Route 202 is a four lane divided, highway at that point, with two lanes running south and two running north. Both lanes are separated by several hundred feet similar to the Atlantic City Expressway. Route 202 is a main arterial state highway running between King of Prussia on the north, and the State of Delaware to the south. Appellant operates two new car franchises, Volkswagen and Subaru, on said plot, located on the west side along the southbound lanes. On this plot appellant, in 1970,. erected a building consisting of a showroom, parts department and repair shop, containing over 15,229 square feet of lot area and containing 19,878 square feet of gross floor area. Approximately 185,000 square feet is paved for the parking and storage of automobiles.

When the plot was purchased in 1970, it was zoned B-Business under the then existing zoning ordinance of Concord Township, which allowed the use of the ground for motor vehicle sales, services, or repair shop when authorized as a special exception. Appellant obtained a special exception to operate a motor vehicle sales and service facility subject to 13 conditions which the appellant had to agree in writing to comply with, said decision of the zoning hearing board being dated October 19, 1970. Condition 13 stated that “No body work will be done on the premises.”

In 1971 the township of Concord changed the [173]*173zoning classification of the plot in question to C-2 which allowed commercial use, but not a motor vehicle sales and service facility. The latter use was placed in a C-3 classification. As a result of the reclassification, appellant’s use became nonconforming.

In October, 1979 appellant filed plans for a permit to build an addition to his building to accommodate a larger repair shop, parts department, and sáles and office area. Part of the repair shop was to be used for body repair. The permit was refused by the township manager because of Condition (13) of the Special Exception. The addition itself complied, with all of the zoning requirements of C-2 as to length, set back, side yard, rear yard, and ground area covered by the total building.

Appellant filed an appeal to the board seeking the removal of Condition (13) attached to a special exception that appellant sought so that he could erect and use the addition as submitted.

Hearings were held before the zoning hearing board of Concord Township, Delaware County, Pa. on November 8, 1979 and November 29, 1979.

By order dated December 17, 1979 the board denied the petition for special exception, thus this appeal.

In its conclusions of law accompanying the order, the board held that:

1. Petitioner’s use of the property is a nonconforming use.

2. Petitioner’s proposed additional use is not an accessory use, but a separate iise not permitted in the C-2 zpne.

3. The zoning hearing board can review its prior orders and alter them if it is proven that a condition was unreasonable at the time is was imposed.

[174]*1744. The applicant has failed to meet its burden of proving that Condition (13) was unreasonable or illegal when imposed.

5. The addition of an auto body shop would create a second, separate nonconforming use to the premises. This is not permitted by the zoning ordinance.

The first question to be decided is did the zoning hearing board commit error in holding that the use of part of appellant’s new addition for automobile body repair was not an accessory us'e,, but a separate use not allowed by the ordinance.

It is undisputed that appellant’s use of the property is a nonconforming use and that appellant does not need board approval to expand that use. The board, however, concluded that, appellant’s use of part of the premises as a body shop would not be an áccessory use, but an additional use not permitted in the C-2 zone.

Section 611(4) of the Concord Township Zoning Ordinance states:

“Accessory use on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the above permitted uses, which use may include (1) storage within a completely enclosed building in conjunction with a permitted use: (b) living, quarters for watchmen or caretakers of a permitted institution; and (c) signs as permitted in Section 2000.”

The law is clear that a valid nonconforming use may be extended by an accessory use, even though such accessory use was not in existence when the property became nonconforming.

In the case of Gross v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 424 Pa. 603, 607 (1967), the Supreme Court stated:

[175]*175“We have consistently held that a lawful nonconforming use . . . may validly be expanded by a reasonable accessory use which is not detrimental to public health, welfare, and safety. . .
“Pennsylvania’s ruling ... is premised upon the view that the owner of property to which a lawful, nonconforming use has attached, enjoys a vested property right thereto which may not be abrogated unless it is a nuisance, or abandoned, or is extinguished by eminent domain . . . and that a zoning ordinance cannot preclude a natural and reasonable expansion thereof.”

In applying this obvious principle, the Supreme Court in the above case held that a nonconforming bowling alley could operate a restaurant which it held to be a reasonable accessory use, since most bowling alleys in the area had restaurants. In the case of Novello v. Zoning Board, 384 Pa. 294, 121 A. 2d 91 (1956), and Parisi v. Phila. Zoning Board, 393 Pa. 458, 143 A. 2d 360 (1958), a car wash was held to be a reasonable accessory use to a garage repair shop. In Mayfair Sales Co. v. Abington Township, 77 Montg. 15 (1960), the court held that a retail store in a district zoned C-l could use an area for storage which was only allowed in C-3 because storage was an accessory use to a retail store.

The question is simply whether using part of a new car sales agency and service facility for body work is an accessory use.

Appellant testified that his average customer is surprised to learn that his new car dealership does not have a body shop on the premises, indicating that this is a normal service of a new car dealer. Evidence was introduced that out of 47 new car agencies in Delaware County, .34 or nearly 73 percent, had a body shop on the premises. Y.B.H. in [176]*176Edgemont and Future Cars, Inc. in Ridley Township and Warrington Motors in Bryn Mawr, new car Volkswagen dealers, all have body shops. Concord Volkswagen is the only Volkswagen dealer which does not. Testimony was also introduced that six out of seven Chevrolet dealers, four Olds mo bile dealers and five out of six Chrysler dealerships have body shops.

Under the old B-Business zoning classification, which was in existence when the special exception was obtained, a body shop obviously fell within the definition of “. . . motor vehicle, sales, service or repair shop . .

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Related

Parisi v. PHILA. ZONING BD. OF ADJUST.
143 A.2d 360 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1958)
Novello v. Zoning Board of Adjustment
121 A.2d 91 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1956)
Gross v. Zoning Board of Adjustment
227 A.2d 824 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1967)
Borden Appeal
87 A.2d 465 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1952)
In Re Appeal of Consolidated Cleaning Shops, Inc.
157 A. 811 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1931)

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Bluebook (online)
17 Pa. D. & C.3d 171, 1981 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawrie-v-concord-township-zoning-hearing-board-pactcompldelawa-1981.