Yurgosky v. Zoning Board of Adjustment

45 Pa. D. & C.2d 275, 1968 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 194
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County
DecidedMay 1, 1968
Docketno. 430
StatusPublished

This text of 45 Pa. D. & C.2d 275 (Yurgosky v. Zoning Board of Adjustment) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Lehigh County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yurgosky v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 45 Pa. D. & C.2d 275, 1968 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 194 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1968).

Opinion

Scheirer, J.,

Before us is an appeal from the grant of a special exception by the Zoning Board of Adjustment of the Township of Salisbury. The original application was filed by the Benjamin Craig Corporation but Olde Woodmere Company is now the substituted applicant by virtue of having acquired title to the land. Following the appeal to this court, the zoning board conducted a public hearing for the purpose of establishing a record. The board then filed findings of fact and an order.

[276]*276The application for a special exception was to erect 240 apartment units to be contained in 20 buildings containing 12 apartment units each on a bract containing 20.29627 acres of land and which adjoins the City of Allentown on the northwest. The tract is zoned R-l. This adjoining area of the city is composed of single homes. At the aforementioned hearing, over the objection of appellants, the application was amended by the addition of a tract of land on the southeast containing 9.10292 acres. The total acreage available for the project is 29.39919.

Appellants base their appeal on the alleged impropriety of amending the application, since the appeal was taken from an order involving the lesser acreage, on the alleged lack of conformity of the application to the requirements of the ordinance and, finally, on the alleged abuse of discretion by the board because there is only one thoroughfare affording ingress and egress to and from the tract which it is claimed will create a traffic problem, particularly on South Church Street, a city street which has a 30-foot cartway.

Counsel for the applicant challenges the right of appellants, owners of property in the city adjoining the tract in the area where entrance will be had to the tract on Greenwood Drive, to appeal from an order of the board in the neighboring municipality of Salisbury Township. Counsel argues “the administration and enforcement of such an ordinance (zoning) should be peculiarly within the province of the constituents of the municipality enacting and no others”.

The ordinance provides: “Any person aggrieved by any decision of the board of adjustment, or any taxpayer, or any officer of the township may, . . . appeal to the court of common pleas . . .” The language follows exactly the provision in the enabling Act of Assembly. See Act of June 24, 1931, P. L. 1206, art. XXXI, sec. 3107, as amended, 53 PS §58107.

[277]*277It can be seen that the right of appeal is not limited to a resident of Salisbury Township. The test is, is appellant aggrieved? Obviously, an owner of property in the City of Allentown located three miles from a tract in Salisbury Township would have considerable difficulty showing that he was “aggrieved” insofar as his property was concerned. If the rule were as suggested, a property owner on the opposite side of a boundary line could not appeal a decision of a zoning board in a neighboring municipality even though the order might permit an offensive use of property adversely affecting the property of appellant. It has been held that a tenant may be a person aggrieved and has a right of appeal. See Richman v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 391 Pa. 254, 137 A. 2d 280; Nicholson v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 392 Pa. 278, 140 A. 2d 604. It is clear that appellants did occupy a status which permitted them to appeal an adverse decision.

Counsel for appellants objects to the allowance of an amendment to the original application whereby additional acreage was made available to the project, principally, because section 902 of the ordinance provides that the application must be accompanied by a plan “showing the proposed building in its exact relation to all property lines and to street or road lines”. Of course, the additional acreage was not shown on the plan initially filed. A small plan was attached to the board’s order showing its location. There was testimony as well at the hearing describing its location. It is our opinion that appellants were not prejudiced by the failure to include the additional acreage on the initial plan. Had it been done, it would have revealed nothing as to street or road lines. It would obviously have shown a new property line. The tract is vacant, hilly and unimproved. We do not mean to encourage the allowance of amendments to applications following appeal, especially if such amendment [278]*278places appellants at a disadvantage. But here, the amendment was to correct a deficit of land area, a correction in the public interest. The ordinance is silent as to the right to amend but we think the test should be, does the allowance create legal prejudice? In the instant case, we think not. Were we to hold otherwise, the applicant would be compelled to reapply which would cause costly delay.

“An ‘exception’ in a zoning ordinance is one allowable where facts and conditions detailed in the ordinance, as those upon which an exception may be permitted, are found to exist”: Devereux Foundation Inc., Zoning Case, 351 Pa. 478, 483, 41 A. 2d 744, 746.

The burden of establishing that the use would not violate the health, safety and morals of the neighborhood is not on the landowner, but, rather, the burden of establishing such detriment is upon those who oppose the issuance of a special exception: Temple University v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 414 Pa. 191, 199 A. 2d 415. The issue here is whether the board has committed a manifest abuse of discretion.

According to the ordinance, the board may authorize the issuance of a permit for a multi-family housing development conforming to the requirements of section 801 which we will quote. The special exception is subject to the following conditions:

“However, permits for such special exceptions shall be authorized by the Board of Adjustment only upon satisfaction in each instance of such conditions as to the general character, height and use of structure or structures; as to the provision of surrounding open space and treatment of the grounds; as to the general fitness of the structure or use to its proposed location; as to the provision of automobile parking or storage space; and as to street capacity and use as, in the opinion of the Board, may be necessary to safeguard public health, comfort and convenience, and as may [279]*279be required for preservation of the general character of the neighborhood in which such building is to be placed or such use is to be conducted.
“To assist the Board of Adjustment in its determination, an application for a permit under this Section shall be accompanied by plans and other descriptive matter sufficient to clearly portray the intentions of the applicant, and such plans and other descriptive matter shall become a part of the record”.

Section 801, in part, provides:

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Related

Richman v. Zoning Board of Adjustment
137 A.2d 280 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1958)
Nicholson v. Zoning Board of Adjustment
140 A.2d 604 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1958)
Temple University v. Zoning Board of Adjustment
414 Pa. 191 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)
Devereux Foundation, Inc., Zoning Case
41 A.2d 744 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1945)
Commonwealth ex rel. Gooslin v. Myers
199 A.2d 415 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1964)

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Bluebook (online)
45 Pa. D. & C.2d 275, 1968 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 194, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yurgosky-v-zoning-board-of-adjustment-pactcompllehigh-1968.