Court Opinion

ID: 9643628
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:35:54.417913+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:01.993644
License: Public Domain

*265NIGRO, Justice,
dissenting.
The Court granted allowance of appeal limited to the issue of whether the evidence presented to the Zoning Board of Adjustment demonstrated unnecessary hardship entitling Appellant to a variance and a special exception. In finding that the record contained no evidence of unnecessary hardship, the Commonwealth Court correctly employed the same rule of law used by this Court in Allegheny West Civic Council, Inc. v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment of the City of Pittsburgh, 547 Pa. 163, 689 A.2d 225 (1997), to determine if unnecessary hardship was established. Thus, I dissent from the majority’s decision to reverse the Commonwealth Court’s order.
As stated by the majority, Appellant applied for a zoning permit to use a building as a lodging house and provide social services to indigent women. The zoning officer denied the permit because the lot did not meet the area requirements of the zoning ordinance. The proposed use of the property, which would lodge 20 clients, required 7,100 square feet under the ordinance. The lot, however, contains only 3,409 square feet, or less than half of the required area. The zoning officer also denied the permit because the proposed use requires ten parking spaces and the property has none.
Appellant appealed to the Zoning Hearing Board and requested a variance from the area requirement and a special exception from the parking requirement. In granting the variance and special exception, the Board made twenty-three findings of fact. It found that the building abuts a parking lot on one side and a three-story structure on the other. The Board found that the building had been used as a bank but has been vacant for many years. It also found that the area variance is necessary to use the structure most efficiently. The remaining findings of fact relate to Appellant’s proposed use of the property. The Board concluded that since the building has been vacant for many years, denying the area variance would be an undue hardship, and the lot is uniquely suited for the proposed use.
*266Appellee, a neighboring property owner, challenged the finding of undue hardship on appeal. Appellee objected to the Board’s reliance on the building’s vacancy as. evidence of unnecessary hardship. The trial court found that in addition to the budding’s vacancy, the proposed use is consistent with the budding’s past use as a bank and dwelling units, and consistent with Appellee’s use of his property as an office and apartments. The trial court held that the Board reasonably concluded that the property is uniquely suited for the proposed use and that the area variance is reasonably necessary to enable that use.
On appeal to the Commonwealth Court, Appellee again argued that Appellant faded to establish unnecessary hardship justifying the grant of a variance. In agreeing that Appellant failed to make this showing, the Commonwealth Court properly set forth the applicable rule of law as fodows:
In order to demonstrate unnecessary hardship, the applicant must show that the physical characteristics of the property are such that either (1) it could not in any case be used for any permitted purpose, or (2) it can be arranged for that purpose only at prohibitive expense or (3) it has either no value or only distress value for any purpose permitted by the ordinance.
Commonwealth Ct. Opinion at 7 (quoting Hill Distr. Project Area Committee, Inc. v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment, 162 Pa.Commw. 323, 328, 638 A.2d 278, 280-81, appeal denied, 538 Pa. 629, 646 A.2d 1182 (1994)). This is the same rule of law employed by this Court in Allegheny West, 547 Pa. at 167-68, 689 A.2d at 227-28.1
In applying this rule of law, the Commonwealth Court correctly stated that the Zoning Hearing Board “made no *267finding of fact that [the property] cannot be used for any permitted purpose, it can be arranged for that purpose only at prohibitive expense, or that it has either no value or only distress value.” Commonwealth Ct. Opinion at 7-8. The Board’s decision, as well as the trial court’s decision, reflects no consideration of whether the property could be used in conformity with the zoning code. Rather, the Commonwealth Court accurately reported that the Board only found that the variance is necessary to use the structure most efficiently, that the property has been vacant for many years, and the property is uniquely suited for the proposed use. Id.
Notwithstanding the lack of factual findings related to the requirements for unnecessary hardship, the Commonwealth Court reviewed the record. The court found it “completely devoid” of evidence that the property cannot be used in a way consistent with the zoning ordinance. Id. at 8. It rejected the Board’s factual finding of vacancy supported that the property cannot be used for a permitted purpose. Id. The court concluded that without a showing that the property cannot be used in a way consistent with the zoning ordinance, there is not the unnecessary hardship required for a variance. Id.
The majority apparently believes that the lower court required Appellant to establish that the property cannot be used for any permitted purpose or that it has no value as zoned, and precluded Appellant from establishing that it could only do so at a prohibitive expense. However, I read the Commonwealth Court’s statement that Appellant failed to show that the property cannot be used in a way consistent with the zoning ordinance, as including that Appellant did not establish that it could only do so at a prohibitive expense. To the extent the Commonwealth Court’s opinion is unclear, the record in this case includes no evidence related to the requirements for unnecessary hardship. Appellant submitted no evidence as to why it could not use the property in compliance with the zoning ordinance. Rather, all of Appellant’s evidence relates to how it wishes to use the property. See N.T., 8/31/95 at 7-22. Thus, even if the majority believes the Common*268wealth Court did not properly apply the applicable rule of law, it need only look at the record to see that unnecessary hardship is not established.2
The majority then appears to change the unnecessary hardship standard set forth above to allow courts to consider “multiple factors including the economic detriment to the applicant if the variance was denied, the financial hardship created by any work necessary to bring the building into strict compliance with the zoning requirements and the characteristics of the surrounding neighborhood.” Majority Opinion at 50.3 The majority states that applicants should be able to renovate buildings in blighted areas. Id. at 50. Even if this is true, this is not unnecessary hardship as previously defined by this Court. To the extent the majority’s multiple factors can be construed as elements of the traditional unnecessary hardship test, the majority gives Appellant a second bite at the apple to establish unnecessary hardship after it failed to do so the first time before the Board.
In sum, the Commonwealth Court employed the proper rule of law in determining if Appellant established unnecessary hardship. Since the record contains no evidence supporting that Appellant established unnecessary hardship, I would affirm the lower court’s decision. Furthermore, I join Mr. Justice Saylor’s dissenting opinion as I agree that this case went askew from its inception by proceeding as a dimensional variance case.
Justice SAYLOR joins in the Dissenting Opinion.

. While Allegheny West is a use variance case, as recognized by the majority, this Court has stated that the same standard applies in area variance cases, although perhaps with a lesser quantum of proof requirement where the variance is sought for a technical or superficial deviation. See O’Neill v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment, 434 Pa. 331, 337-38, 254 A.2d 12, 16 (1969). I disagree with the majority that Appellant's proposed use of a space less than half of the required size is a mere technical or superficial deviation.

. While the majority relies upon Allegheny West, Halberstadt v. Borough of Nazareth, 546 Pa. 578, 687 A.2d 371 (1997), Wagner v. Zoning Hearing Bd., 675 A.2d 791 (Pa.Commw.1996)(plurality), and Vitti v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment, 710 A.2d 653 (Pa.Commw.1998), these cases are distinguishable because the applicants therein submitted evidence that the properties could only be used in conformity with the zoning code at a prohibitive cost. There is no such evidence here.

. The Court has rejected the first example — the economic detriment to the applicant if the variance is denied — as providing a basis to grant a variance. See, e.g., Valley View Civic Ass’n v. Zoning Bd., 501 Pa. 550, 556, 462 A.2d 637, 640 (1983)(citing cases).