Court Opinion

ID: 9767232
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:13:32.937468+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:29.638874
License: Public Domain

NIX, Justice,
concurring and dissenting.
The majority persists in its failure to recognize that townhouses provide a distinct legitimate use which is not satisfied by adequate provision within the municipality for multi-family dwellings. By condoning Springfield Township’s total exclusion of townhouses within its borders, the majority forecloses the development of a less expensive form of housing in a convenient Philadelphia suburb whose present population density is below average for Delaware County and whose projected population growth is significant. Proper analysis under the test announced by this *355Court in Surrick v. Zoning Hearing Board of Upper Providence Township, 476 Pa. 182, 382 A.2d 105 (1977), requires the conclusion that Springfield Township is not so highly developed that it may escape its constitutional obligation to make available a “fair share” of its area for the affordable housing which townhouses are uniquely able to provide and for those who must find such housing now and in the future.
Thus, I am compelled to dissent from that portion of the majority opinion which upholds the constitutionality of the zoning ordinance as to its total exclusion of townhouses. I would remand this matter to the Court of Common Pleas for consideration of Elocin’s proposed plan for that type of housing in Springfield Township.