Summary
cautioning this Court to refrain from substituting its judgment for that of the fact-finder in a zoning case
Summary of this case from Tidd v. Lower Saucon Township Zoning Hearing BoardOpinion
Submitted: July 20, 2004.
Decided: August 15, 2005.
Appeal Nos. 20 21 WAP 2004 from the Order of the Commonwealth Court entered August 7, 2003 at Nos. 2483CD2002 and 2560CD2002, affirming the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County entered October 10, 2002 at Nos. SA02-738 and SA02-720; Joseph M. James, President Judge.
Donald C. Fetzko, J. Michael Adams, Jr., for Borough of West Mifflin.
Edwin J. Strassburger, Pittsburgh, for Strassburger McKenna Gutnick Potter.
Thomas B. Earhart, for Second Baptist Church of Homestead.
Jay Arthur Gilmer, for Noah's Ark Christian Child Care Center, Inc.
Before: CAPPY, C.J., CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN and BAER, JJ.
ORDER
AND NOW, this 15th day of August, 2005, the Order of the Commonwealth Court affirming the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County is reversed based upon our prior decisions in Valley View Civic Association v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 501 Pa. 550, 462 A.2d 637, 639 (1983) (holding, inter alia, that where no additional evidence is presented subsequent to the determination of a zoning hearing board, the scope of review of an appellate court is limited to determining whether the zoning board committed a manifest abuse of discretion or an error of law in rendering its decision); In re Petition of Dolington Land, 576 Pa. 519, 839 A.2d 1021, 1026 (2003) (noting that the zoning board, as factfinder, is the sole judge of credibility with the power to resolve conflicts in the testimony and to reject even uncontradicted testimony that it finds to be lacking in credibility); and Nettleton v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of the City of Pittsburgh, 574 Pa. 45, 828 A.2d 1033, 1041 (2003) (same).
The decision and order of the Zoning Hearing Board of the Borough of West Mifflin dated June 19, 2002 is reinstated.