West Manchester Twp. v. Zoning Hear. Bd.

Full title: West Manchester Township v. The Zoning Hearing Board of West Manchester…

Court: Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania

Date published: Jul 16, 1979

403 A.2d 234 (Pa. Cmmw. Ct. 1979)

403 A.2d 234

Opinion

Argued June 8, 1979

July 16, 1979.

Zoning — Standing of municipality to appeal — Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 1968, July 31, P.L. 805

1. Under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 1968, July 31, P.L. 805, the municipality is a party to all zoning board proceedings whether it actually appears at a hearing or files objections, and a municipality has standing to appeal an adverse decision of the board. [253-4]

Argued June 8, 1979, before Judges WILKINSON, JR., MENCER and ROGERS, sitting as a panel of three.

Appeal, No. 1756 C.D. 1978, from the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of York County in case of West Manchester Township v. The Zoning Hearing Board of West Manchester Township, No. 77-S-3582.

Denial of use certificate by zoning officer appealed by applicant to the Zoning Hearing Board of West Manchester Township. Use certificate granted. Township appealed to the Court of Common Pleas of York County. Decision reversed. Use certificate denied. BLAKEY, III, J. Applicant appealed to the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania. Held: Affirmed.

Allen H. Smith, for appellant.

Harry C. Elsesser, Jr., for appellee.

OPINION BY JUDGE WILKINSON, JR., July 16, 1979:

This is an appeal from a decision of the Court of Common Pleas of York County which sustained the appeal of West Manchester Township (Township) from a decision of the Township Zoning Hearing Board granting a use certificate to appellant-intervenor to continue a non-conforming use. We affirm.

The only issue raised in this appeal is whether the Township had standing to appeal the decision of the Zoning Hearing Board. We find this question controlled by our decision in Lower Paxton Township v. Fieseler Neon Signs, 37 Pa. Commw. 506, 391 A.2d 720 (1978), wherein we held that under Section 908(3) of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Code), Act of July 31, 1968, P.L. 805, as amended, 53 P. S. § 10908(3) the municipality is made a party to all zoning board proceedings whether or not the municipality appears at the hearings or otherwise objects and thus has standing to appeal an adverse decision of the zoning board under Section 1007 of the Code, 53 P. S. § 11007.

Accordingly, we will enter the following,

ORDER

AND NOW, July 16, 1979, the order of the Court of Common Pleas of York County at No. 77-S-3582, dated June 20, 1978, is hereby affirmed.