4 Pa. Commw. 312 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1972
Opinion by
This is an appeal from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of York County affirming the refusal of the Zoning Board of Adjustment (now Zoning Hearing Board) of Springettsbury Township (Board) to grant a variance applied for by Mark R. Lando and Vivian J. Lando, his wife (appellants), and refusing appellants’ petition to take additional testimony concerning the matter.
Appellants (in their own words) “under threat of prosecution, instigated by the sole protestan!, a former township official, without counsel and in compliance with the direction of the Township Zoning Officer, filed an application for a variance
Appellants argue that none of the sections of the township ordinance “cited by the Zoning Officer, the counsellors or the Court prohibits the use applied for
Therefore, as we recently stated in Mill-Bridge Realty, Inc. v. Zoning Board of Adjustment and Amish-Dutch Inns, Inc., additional party, 4 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 157, 161, 286 A. 2d 483 (1972), “Unfortunately based on the present state of the record, we cannot properly exercise even our limited function of review, for while we have an ample record before us containing the complete testimony presented to the Board as well as all the exhibits relating to the proposed [use], we are unable to determine on what basis the Board made its decision. Were we to make an independent review of the record and to make a decision as to the propriety of the [Board’s decision], we would be assuming the role assigned to the Board.”
Both Section 908(9) of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act of July 31, 1968, P. L. (Act No. 247), Article IX, §908, 53 P.S. §10908(9), and case law require that the Board issue an opinion which
Order reversed and remanded to the lower court for its remand to the Springettsbury Township Zoning Board of Adjustment with a directive that the Board formulate findings of fact and conclusions of law together with the reasons therefor in support of its decision as to appellants’ application to stable horses on their property.
As appellants brief, p. 4, states: “At the direction of the Zoning Officer, without benefit of counsel, the Appellants filed an ‘application’ for permission to keep the horses [in this R-2 Zone]. This was, of course, the technical application for a variance which the Zoning Officer directed should be filed as being necessarily required.”
The applicable sections of the ordinance, in pertinent part, are as follows:
“Section 100. Purposes. This Ordinance is enacted for the following purposes: to promote the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the inhabitants of the Township of Springettsbury by lessening congestion in the roads and streets; securing safety from fire, panic and other dangers; providing adequate light and air; preventing the overcrowding of land; avoiding undue concentration of population; facilitating the adequate provision of transportation, water, sewage, schools, parks, and other public requirements; conserving the value of buildings; and encouraging the most appropriate use of land.”
“Section 103. Definition of Terms. . . .
“2. Accessory Building: A building subordinate to and detached from the main building on the same lot and used for purposes customarily incidental to the main building.
“3. Accessory Use: A use customarily incidental and subordinate to the principal use or the main building and located on the same lot with such principal use or main building.
“4. Agriculture: The tilling of the soil, the raising of crops, horticulture and gardening.”
“24. Building : Any structure on a lot, having a roof supported by columns or walls and intended for the shelter, housing or enclosure of persons, animals, or chattels, and including covered porches or bay windows and chimneys.”
“42. Dwelling, Single Family, Detached: A building used by one (1) family, having only one (1) dwelling unit, and having two (2) side yards.”
“56. Gardening: The cultivation of herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables, excluding the keeping of livestock.”
“91. Biding Academy : An establishment where horses are kept for riding or driving, or are stabled for compensation, or incidental to the operation of any club, association, ranch, or similar establishment.”
*315 “103. Stable, Private: An accessory building in which horses are kept for private use and not for hire, remuneration, exhibition, or sale.
“104. Stable, Public : A building in which any horses are kept for remuneration, hire, exhibition, or sale.”
“Section 400. Purpose. The purpose of the R-2 Residence District is to provide reasonable standards for the orderly expansion of urban-type residential development in sections of the Township with moderate sloping land, to prevent the over-crowding of the land, to exclude activities of a commercial or industrial nature and any activities not compatible with residential development, and to otherwise create conditions conducive to carrying out the purposes of this Ordinance as set forth in Section 100.
“Section 401. Use Regulations. A building may erected or used, and a lot may be occupied, for any of the following purposes and no other: 1. Single-family detached dwellings; 2. Agriculture or gardening: ... 6. Accessory use on the same lot with and customarily incidental to any of the above permitted uses, and which may include a home occupation.”
“Section 1200. Use Regulations.
“1. Animals and Poultry: In districts where permitted, operations involving the use of buildings and land for farming, nurseries, and greenhouses, riding academies, livery or boarding stables, dog kennels, animal hospitals, stock raising, dairying and poultry shall be subject to the following safeguards and regulations:
“a. Buildings in which animals or poultry are kept shall not hereafter be erected within three hundred (300) feet of any lot line.
“b. Storage of manure or odor or dust producing substance shall not be permitted within three hundred (300) feet of any lot line.”