382 Pa. 67 | Pa. | 1955
Opinion by
The Overbrook Farms Club, an association of neighborhood residents, objects, on this appeal, to the grant by the court below of a use registration permit for a residence at 6020 Overbrook Avenue, Philadelphia, to be occupied by a group of young men physically handicapped by cerebral palsy.
The United Cerebral Palsy Association of Philadelphia and Vicinity applied to the Zoning Division of the Philadelphia Department of Licenses and Inspection for the use registration permit in question. The project of the Association is to establish a residence, presently for ten, possibly later for twenty, members of a group ranging in age from 18 to 35, who have formed themselves into an organization called the “Pioneers.” They do not require nursing or custodial care and no medical treatment of any kind will be administered to them on the premises. They are of normal mentality but they suffer in common from the disability visited upon them by their affliction. They will assist in the running of the household. Their reason for associating in a habitation where they will live, dine and sleep is because they presently lack suitable
The property at 6020 Overbrook Avenue is a large stone residence of ten bedrooms. It is situated in spacious and well-planted grounds. It has an elevator, commodious kitchen facilities, a greenhouse and a four-ear garage. Portions of the accessory buildings will probably be used for vocational training, handcraft, horticulture and recreational activities for members of the group.
The property for which the use registration permit was requested is in a “A” residential district. The Zoning Division denied the application, and, on appeal to the Zoning Board, that tribunal likewise held that the permit should not be granted nor a variance allowed. The Court of Common Pleas, however, reversed the order of the Board and granted the use registration permit. The present appeal from that order is by the Overbrook Farms Club which intervened in the original proceedings.
The Philadelphia Zoning Ordinance of August 10, 1933, listed, among the specific uses permitted in a “A” residential district, club houses, schools and dormitories. Also permitted were hospitals, sanitaria, eleemosynary and public institutions (other than correctional) , but there was a provision that buildings for such uses should be located at least 75 feet from any adjoining lot or lots. It was because of this requirement that the Zoning Board rejected plaintiff’s application because it held that the proposed use of the building for which the permit was requested was that of a sanitarium, and, as it had side yards of only 25 feet and 45 feet and a rear yard of 10 feet in width it did not meet the 75 foot requirement.
In Walker v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 380 Pa. 228, 110 A. 2d 414 (decided after the action of the
We are of opinion that the court below correctly concluded that plaintiff was entitled to the grant of its requested permit as a “club house,” or “dormitory,” or both. Those terms are not defined in the ordinance and presumably are used in the broadest possible sense since restrictions imposed by zoning ordinances must be strictly construed: Lord Appeal, 368 Pa. 121, 126,
Appellants urge as an additional objection to the grant of the permit that the ordinance requires of all buildings in an “A” residential district that the minimum depth of the rear yard should be 25 feet whereas the rear yard of plaintiff’s property has a depth of
The order is affirmed at the cost of appellants.
“Rear yard” is there defined as “A yard of the full width of the lot, located between the extreme rear line of the building and the extreme rear line of the lot.....”