53 Pa. Stat. § 25057
The mayor of every city of the second class shall, with the approval of the council, appoint a board of adjustment and in the regulations and restrictions adopted pursuant to the authority of this act, it shall be provided that the said board of adjustments may, in appropriate cases and subject to appropriate conditions and safeguards, make special exceptions to the terms of the ordinance, in harmony with its general purpose and intent and in accordance with general or specific rules therein contained.
The board of adjustment shall consist of three members, one of whom shall be a member of the city planning commission; one of whom shall be designated to serve until the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-eight; one until the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine; and one until the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and thirty. Their successors shall be appointed, on the expiration of their respective terms, to serve three years. Vacancies shall be filled for the unexpired term of any member whose term becomes vacant.
The board shall adopt rules in accordance with the provisions of any ordinance adopted pursuant to this act. Meetings of the board shall be held at the call of the chairman and at such other times as the board may determine. Such chairman, or in his absence the acting chairman, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses under penalty as may be provided in the ordinance. All meetings of the board shall be open to the public. The board shall keep minutes of its proceedings showing the vote of each member upon each question or, if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be immediately filed in the office of the board and shall be a public record.
Appeals to the board of adjustment may be taken by any person aggrieved, or by the head of any department affected by or interested in any decision of the officer charged with the administration of the ordinance. Such appeal shall be taken within a reasonable time, as provided by the rules of the board, by filing with the officer from whom the appeal is taken and with the board of adjustment a notice of appeal specifying the grounds thereof. The officer from whom the appeal is taken shall forthwith transmit to the board all the papers constituting the record upon which the action appealed from was taken.
An appeal shall stay all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from, unless the officer from whom the appeal is taken certifies to the board of adjustment, after the notice of appeal shall have been filed with him, that by reason of facts stated in the certificate a stay would in his opinion cause imminent peril to life or property. In such case proceedings shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order, which may be granted by the court of common pleas of the county wherein said city may be situated, on application and notice to the officer from whom the appeal is taken and on due cause shown and the filing of a bond as in other injunction proceedings.
The board of adjustment shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal, give posted public notice thereof, and decide the same within a reasonable time. Upon the hearing, any party may appear in person or by agent or by attorney.
The board of adjustment shall have the following powers:
In exercising the above-mentioned powers, such boards may, in conformity with the provisions of this act, reverse or affirm, wholly or partly, or may modify the order, requirement, decision or determination appealed from, and may make such order, requirement, decision or determination as ought to be made, and to that end shall have all the powers of the officer from whom the appeal is taken.
53 P.S. § 25057