SOCIETY CREATED TO REDUCE URBAN BLIGHT v. Zoning Board of Adjustment

908 A.2d 967, 2006 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 510, 2006 WL 2741636
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 27, 2006
Docket2099 C.D. 2005, 2192 C.D. 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 908 A.2d 967 (SOCIETY CREATED TO REDUCE URBAN BLIGHT v. Zoning Board of Adjustment) 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
SOCIETY CREATED TO REDUCE URBAN BLIGHT v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 908 A.2d 967, 2006 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 510, 2006 WL 2741636 (Pa. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinions

OPINION BY

Judge McGINLEY.

The Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB), et. al appeals from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (common pleas court) that affirmed the decision of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment’s (Board) grant of a variance to Preston Ship & Rail, Inc. (Preston) in order to erect five outdoor wrap around advertising signs (outdoor advertising signs) on a vacant building. Preston cross-appeals and contends that Section 1460(10) of the Philadelphia Zoning Code (Code) is unconstitutional. Additionally, Preston seeks to quash SCRUB’S appeal to this Court and asserts that SCRUB lacks standing.

On July 28, 2003, Preston sought a registration permit from the Department of [970]*970Licenses and Inspections (L & I) in order to erect five.outdoor advertising signs on the grain building located on the property. Application For Use Registration Permit, July 28, 2003, at 1; Reproduced Record (R.R.) at A-289. On September 11, 2003, L & I issued a notice of refusal of permit and concluded that the outdoor advertising signs would violate numerous provisions of Section 14-1604 of the Code. Specifically, L & I specified the following violations: 1) that the outdoor advertising signs would be located within 500 feet of each other; 2) that only two outdoor advertising signs are permitted on any one lot with no more than one sign support structure; 3) that the outdoor advertising signs would total approximately 38,000 square feet; and 4) that the erection of each new outdoor advertising sign would require the removal of a previous sign.

On October 7, 2003, Preston appealed the refusal to the Board and alleged:

Preston ... is the owner of the property located at 2600 Rear Penrose Ferry Road, Philadelphia, PA otherwise known as “Pier 3 at Girard Point” (“Property”). Applicant [Preston] proposes to use a building located on the Property which was formerly used as a grain elevator and tower (“Building”) for the erection of outdoor advertising signs on the face of each side of the Building.
In order to accomplish this goal, Applicant [Preston] requests several variances from the requirements of the City of Philadelphia Zoning Code (“Zoning Code”) for the erection of outdoor advertising signs. The Property is situate in a Least Restricted Industrial Zoning District. This zoning district permits outdoor advertising signs. However, Applicant [Preston] must obtain several variances from the provisions of the Zoning Code so as to avoid the unnecessary hardship presented in this case. In addition, the Zoning Code contains an unconstitutional Outdoor Advertising and Non-Accessory Advertising prerequisite for obtaining a permit for such use from which Applicant [Preston] also seeks relief. Applicant will demonstrate that the Property has several unique features and characteristics which justify the relief it seeks from the Zoning Code’s requirements for outdoor advertising signs....
The overall Property consists of a dilapidated pier ... which is landlocked. Access to the Property is limited to an easement over an adjacent property. The Pier has collapsed in at least two major areas and was allowed to fall into disrepair by the former owner. The primary remaining structure on the Property is a grain elevator and tower, which is a massive reinforced concrete structure with no present or reasonably foreseeable use, is an eyesore, and for which the cost of demolition would be prohibitively expensive....
The severe deterioration of the Pier with the old unusable structures on the Property, the nature of the surrounding area ... represent conditions which are unique to this Property and are such to justify the requested relief whether the variances are classified as use or dimensional variances or both.

Application Of Preston Ship & Rail, Inc., October 7, 2003, at 1-2; R.R. at A-391-92. After a hearing, the Board granted Preston’s request for a use variance and the common pleas court affirmed.1 SCRUB [971]*971appealed and Preston cross-appealed.2

1. Motion To Quash SCRUB’S Appeal

Initially, Preston requests this Court to quash SCRUB’S appeal based on lack of standing because none of the individuals are “aggrieved persons” as defined under Section 17.1 of the Home Rule Act, 53 P.S. § 13131.1.3 Preston acknowledges that Section 14-1806 of the Code does grant standing to “taxpayers” such as members of SCRUB. See Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB) v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of the City of Philadelphia (Procacci), 729 A.2d 117 (Pa.Cmwlth.1999).4 However, Preston asserts that under the newly enacted provisions of Act 193 SCRUB no longer has standing because it is not an “aggrieved person.”

SCRUB counters that: 1) Preston conceded standing to SCRUB and other individuals at the Board’s hearing; 2) Preston waived the standing issue because it did not appeal from the Board’s decision regarding the standing issue; and 3) SCRUB has standing pursuant to Section 14-1806(1) of the Code which controlled the issue of standing before the Board and in the appeals to the common pleas court and this Court.

Section 14-1806(1) of the Code had provided that “[a]ny person or persons jointly or severally aggrieved by any decision of the Board or any taxpayer ... may present to a Court of record a petition, duly verified, setting forth that such decision is illegal in whole or in part, specifying the ground for that illegality.” (emphasis added).

Section 17.1 to the Home Rule Act, 53 P.S. § 13131.1, now provides:

Specific Powers
In addition to any aggrieved person, the governing body vested with legislative powers under any charter adopted pursuant to this act shall have standing to appeal any decision of a zoning hearing board or other board or commission created to regulate development within the city. As used in this section, the term “aggrieved persons” does not include taxpayers of the city that are not detrimentally harmed by the decision of the zoning hearing board or other board or commission created to regulate development. (emphasis added).

Initially, this Court notes that “[a] cause of action arises under Pennsylvania law when one can first maintain an action to a successful conclusion.” Konidaris v. Portnoff Law Associates, Ltd., 884 A.2d 348, 354 (Pa.Cmwlth.2005), citing In re Schorr, 299 B.R. 97 (Bankr.W.D.Pa.2003).

In Ieropoli v. AC&S Corporation, 577 Pa. 138, 842 A.2d 919 (2004)5, our Pennsyl[972]*972vania Supreme Court addressed the issue whether subsequent legislation that extinguished a party’s cause of action was unconstitutional:

[W]e begin with the meaning of the phrase ‘cause of action’. As we have stated in other cases, the phrase does not have a single definition, and means different things depending on context. ...

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Related

Gargiolo v. City of Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment
32 Pa. D. & C.5th 44 (Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas, 2013)
Spahn v. Zoning Board of Adjustment
977 A.2d 1132 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
SOCIETY CREATED TO REDUCE URBAN BLIGHT v. Zoning Board of Adjustment
908 A.2d 967 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)

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Bluebook (online)
908 A.2d 967, 2006 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 510, 2006 WL 2741636, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/society-created-to-reduce-urban-blight-v-zoning-board-of-adjustment-pacommwct-2006.