Stahl v. Upper Southampton Township Zoning Hearing Board

606 A.2d 960, 146 Pa. Commw. 659, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 251
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 1, 1992
Docket320 C.D. 1991
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 606 A.2d 960 (Stahl v. Upper Southampton Township 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
Stahl v. Upper Southampton Township Zoning Hearing Board, 606 A.2d 960, 146 Pa. Commw. 659, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 251 (Pa. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

CRAIG, President Judge.

Paul J. Stahl, Jr., George W. Stahl, Kenneth Greenwood and New Road Associates (Associates) appeal an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County that affirmed a decision of the Zoning Hearing Board of Upper Southampton Township denying the Associates’ petition for a curative amendment. We reverse.

The Associates filed a challenge to the substantive validity of the township’s zoning ordinance and map, under section 1004 of the Municipalities Planning Code (MPC), Act of July 31,1968, P.L. 805, 53 P.S. § 11004. Specifically, the Associates challenged the ordinance provisions relating to mobilehome parks, asserting that the ordinance and map effect a de facto exclusion of mobilehome parks. The Associates seek to develop a tract of land they own in an R-2 district into a mobilehome park.

The zoning hearing board held hearings and rendered a report rejecting the Associates’ challenge and upholding the validity of the ordinance. The Associates appealed the board’s decision to the common pleas court, which took no additional evidence and affirmed the board’s decision.

The board’s relevant findings of fact are as follows. Section 406 of the township ordinance permits mobilehome parks only in R-4 Residential Districts. That provision also requires that each lot in a mobile home park must have a minimum size of 9,000 square feet, a minimum front yard of 30 feet, a minimum rear yard of 35 feet, and minimum width of seventy feet. Furthermore, the density requirement applicable to single-family detached dwelling units also applies to mobilehome parks. In R-4 districts, such units are subject to a maximum density of three units per acre.

The property the Associates seek to develop consists of three parcels of land. The property is located in an R-2 zone, which permits single-family detached dwelling units, *662 conversion of existing detached dwelling units into apartments as a conditional use, and cluster development of detached single family homes as a conditional use. The ordinance also permits certain agricultural uses in R-2 zones.

The board determined that, when the ordinance was adopted, there were two tracts of land that could have been developed into mobilehome parks. Although one of those tracts, located in the southern part of the township, was being developed into a townhouse development at the time the ordinance was adopted, the board found that the property could have been developed as a mobilehome park. The other tract is undeveloped, and consists of two contiguous parcels that together total more than fifteen acres. The parcels are divided by Willow Penn Drive; however, both the board and the trial court concluded that the land could be developed as a mobilehome park.

The board concluded that neither the ordinance’s 9,000 square feet minimum lot requirement nor its maximum density requirement rendered the ordinance de facto exclusionary as to mobilehome parks. The board noted that an economic loss is insufficient to make an ordinance unconstitutional, and that the Associates had not established that a three-unit per acre density provision makes development economically unfeasible. The board also concluded that the front and rear yard requirements do not make the ordinance unduly restrictive or exclusionary.

On appeal to the court of common pleas, the trial court determined that the Associates did not offer any evidence regarding the amount of land available for development in the township. Thus, the trial court concluded that there was no way to determine whether the township had provided for a fair share of its land for the development of mobilehome parks, in accordance with the Supreme Court’s decision in Surrick v. Zoning Hearing Board of Upper Providence Township, 476 Pa. 182, 382 A.2d 105 (1977).

The court agreed with the board that economic loss is insufficient to render an ordinance exclusionary, and noted *663 that the board, as fact finder, elected to reject the testimony of the Associates’ expert regarding the economic feasibility of developing a mobilehome park in accordance with the ordinance requirements.

Finally, the trial court addressed the Associates’ argument that the ordinance is exclusionary because it provides only for mobilehome parks having the entire park under single ownership. The court concluded that there is no inconsistency between the MPC’s definition of mobilehome park and the single ownership component of the ordinance’s definition of mobilehome park, and that the definition did not render the ordinance exclusionary.

In this appeal the Associates raise the following issues: (1) whether the township’s ordinance effects a de facto and unconstitutional exclusion of mobilehome parks; (2) whether the zoning hearing board erred in concluding that the dimensional aspects of the mobilehome park ordinance makes the development of mobilehome parks infeasible and therefore renders the ordinance de facto exclusionary; and (3) whether the ordinance is de facto exclusionary because it does not permit mobilehome parks in which lots are sold in fee simple or under a condominium regime.

1. Does the township provide a fair share of its land for mobilehome parks?

When a party alleges that a municipality has enacted a zoning ordinance that effects a partial or de facto exclusion, the Supreme Court’s analysis in Surrick applies.

Surrick established a three-prong test for determining whether a municipality has provided its fair share of land for a particular use. The first part of that test requires an inquiry as to whether the community in question is a logical area for development and population growth. If the community is in the “path of growth,” i.e. has a potential for growth, the present level of development within the community must be examined. If the community is (1) within the path of growth and (2) not already highly developed, the third step is to ascertain whether the zoning ordinance has *664 the practical effect of unlawfully excluding the proposed use.

Initially, the Associates argue that the land the township set aside as R-4 districts for the potential development of mobilehome parks was either already in the process of development for another purpose or not capable of development as a mobilehome park, and thus, that the ordinance’s supposed purpose of allocating land for the potential development of mobilehome parks is illusory.

In Appeal of Groff, 1 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 439, 274 A.2d 574 (1971), this court noted that where a municipality’s zoning ordinance allocates sufficient land for a use, but the area ultimately becomes saturated by other uses, the inability to develop land does not amount to an unconstitutional prohibition of the use.

However, contrary to the board’s and trial court’s conclusion, that is not the case here. In fact, the Trow-bridge area was in the process of development for another residential use at the time the township considered and ultimately adopted the ordinance.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re: Apr. 24 Dec. Apl of: Charlestown Outdoor
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2022
Tri-County Landfill, Inc. v. Pine Township Zoning Hearing Board
83 A.3d 488 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2014)
Smith v. Hanover Zoning Hearing Board
78 A.3d 1212 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Township of Exeter v. Zoning Hearing Board
962 A.2d 653 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
Larock v. Board of Supervisors of Sugarloaf Township
961 A.2d 916 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Crystal Forest Associates, LP v. Buckingham Township Supervisors
872 A.2d 206 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2005)
Heritage Building Group, Inc. v. Plumstead Township Board of Supervisors
833 A.2d 1205 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)
Fisher v. Viola
789 A.2d 782 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Montgomery Crossing Associates v. Township of Lower Gwynedd
758 A.2d 285 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 2000)
Sprint Spectrum L.P. v. Zoning Hearing Board of Mahoning Township
46 Pa. D. & C.4th 187 (Carbon County Court of Common Pleas, 2000)
Newtown Land Ltd. Partnership v. Zoning Hearing Board
30 Pa. D. & C.4th 170 (Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, 1996)
Farley v. Zoning Hearing Board of Lower Merion Township
636 A.2d 1232 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
606 A.2d 960, 146 Pa. Commw. 659, 1992 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 251, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stahl-v-upper-southampton-township-zoning-hearing-board-pacommwct-1992.