Court Opinion

ID: 9750186
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 14:31:21.923176+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:03.807513
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Judge Blatt:
I must respectfully dissent.
The majority has held that the landowners in this case are entitled to receive a variance to build a gasoline station and that the Zoning Board of Adjustment (Board) abused its discretion in failing to grant such a variance.
It is well recognized, I believe, that a landowner must carry a heavy burden in order to prove that he is entitled to a variance. “In order to obtain a variance the law is well settled that an applicant must prove (1) the variance will not be contrary to the public interest; and (2) unnecessary hardships will result if it is not granted.” (Emphasis in original.) Altemose Construction Company v. Zoning Hearing Board, 3 Pa. *238Commonwealth Ct. 328, 332, 281 A. 2d 781, 783 (1971). “An applicant seeking a variance has the burden of proving that he has met both of the above criteria.” Boyd v. Wilkins Township Board of Adjustment, 2 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 324, 326, 279 A. 2d 363, 364 (1971). A variance should not be granted where the record is “completely barren as to any evidence demonstrating that the land in question cannot possibly be used within the permissible uses enumerated under the present zoning classification. . . .” Marple Township Appeal, 430 Pa. 113, 114, 243 A. 2d 357 (1968). In this case, however, the landowners presented virtually no evidence either to prove that the existing zoning will cause an unnecessary hardship by making the property unusable as zoned or that the variance will not be adverse to the public interest.
The majority holds that the combination of geographical location and topographical features here present is sufficient to render the property useless unless a variance is granted. But the majority has made this assumption despite the fact that the landowners placed no competent testimony into the record to indicate that the property could not be used as zoned. One of the landowners, Mr. Deicas (who is a professional engineer), testified that the property could not be used for residential purposes because there was insufficient access thereto and there were no utility facilities on the property. There was no testimony, however, that such facilities were not immediately available, and as to access, Mr. Deicas testified that at one point along Maple Street, where the elevation is 6 feet, a 35-foot driveway could be placed with a grade of only 18%. In any case, there was no testimony as to why either of these was sufficient to make the property unusable. There was no testimony as to the value of the property as currently zoned; no testimony as to the possibility *239of using the property for other purposes authorized in an R-l District (such as apartments) ; no testimony as to the costs of changing the grade of the property, as there was in Zoning Board of Adjustment of Hanover Township v. Koehler, 2 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 260, 278 A. 2d 375 (1971); and no testimony that the adjacent highways or the nearby gasoline station would render the property useless if it continued as an R-l District. While there was testimony that the highest and best use of the property is as a gasoline station, such testimony points only to the possibility of an economic hardship, and an “[ejconomic hardship does not constitute such a unique, unnecessary hardship peculiar to the propei'ty involved that will in itself justify the issuance of a variance. . . .” DiSanto v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of Lower Merion Township, 410 Pa. 331, 334, 189 A. 2d 135, 137 (1963).
The majority holds that a variance is mandated merely because of the physical conditions of the area. No testimony is cited, however, as to the effect which sxxch physical characteristics have on the value of the property. Indeed, such testimony does not exist in the record. The majority lifts the burdexx of proving an actual hardship from the landowners, and assumes on its own, as did the court below, that these physical characteristics, as shown on maps, photographs, contour diagrams and other such physical evidence, make the property unusable as zoned. Meanwhile, it ignores the fact that no evidence was introduced as to the effect of these features upon the value or the usefulness of the property in question.
This decision changes the standards of proof in variance cases. In the future it will apparently be merely necessary for landowners to show that their property contains unique physical characteristics. The effects of such physical characteristics on the use of the prop*240erty as zoned need not be testified to, but this Court and the lower courts will be permitted to sit as super zoning boards and use their own judgment as to whether or not the property can be used as zoned. The adverse effect of such a standard upon rational land use planning can be easily understood.
Moreover, in addition to failing to prove an unnecessary hardship in this case, the landowners have failed to prove that the grant of a variance would not be contrary to the public interest. The law seems clear that “the variance can be granted only if ‘the spirit of the ordinance shall be observed; the public health; the public safety; and the general welfare secured; and substantial justice done.’ ” Richman v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 391 Pa. 254, 259, 137 A. 2d 280, 283 (1958). Yet here there was extensive testimony that prevailing winds in the area would carry gas fumes from the proposed station directly over the neighboring houses. This was never contradicted by the landowners, and the Board relied on this point in finding that a gasoline station at this location would not be in the public interest. Did the Board abuse its discretion in making such a finding? I think not.
There was also testimony at the hearing concerning the possibility that increased traffic and new traffic patterns brought about by the building of a gasoline station would cause a hazard and be a detriment to the community. Clearly, traffic hazards involve the public safety and welfare, and the burden of showing that public safety and welfare will not be endangered is on the applicant in a variance case. There was testimony at the hearing that traffic coming out of the gasoline station onto heavily traveled, curving Maple Avenue would cause a traffic hazard, and, although the landowners did testify as to steps they would take to obviate such dangers, it was hardly an abuse of discre*241tion for the Board to find that the landowners had not carried their burden of proving that a danger to the public safety and welfare would not exist. The majority states in its opinion that certain conditions imposed by the lower court will prevent the increased traffic from being a serious detriment to the community. Again, this is merely a substitution of the lower court’s and of this Court’s judgment for that of the Board.
It should be noted, moreover, that there seems to be a strong indication that any hardship in the use of this property (although of course, there is no evidence of hardship) was self-inflicted. The landowners knew that this property was zoned R-l when they purchased it, and, despite such knowledge, they went through with the deal. Surely, under these circumstances, they cannot claim an unnecessary hardship. McClure Appeal, 415 Pa. 285, 203 A. 2d 534 (1964); Drop v. Board of Adjustment, 6 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 64, 293 A. 2d 144 (1972). The majority cites Gro Appeal, 440 Pa. 552, 269 A. 2d 876 (1970), and states that “there is nothing in the record to indicate that the property was purchased with the assumption that a variance would be needed to justify the price.” Yet there is in the Record a letter from Mr. Pfile to the Borough dated May 14, 1968, a month before Mr. Pfile actually purchased his interest in the land, and, in this letter, Mr. Pfile asked for a variance because the property “doesn’t lend itself to any other kind of use except that of some minimal commercial usage, to which I hope to put the property. . . .” This certainly indicates that at least one of the landowners purchased the property with the belief that it would be worthless unless a variance would be granted. It would seem difficult to cite a clearer example of self-inflicted hardship.
Lastly, the majority seems clearly to have erred in stating this Court’s scope of review. As the majority *242puts it: “Since the lower court took no additional evidence, our duty is to determine whether the Board clearly abused its discretion or committed an error of law.” The lower court judge, however, did make a view of the property in question. In the lower court opinion, he stated: “We traveled to the site and inspected it and some of our comments are based upon observation.” Such a view and its use in the lower court’s opinion seems clearly an admission of relevant evidence, and the lower court was not deciding the case solely on the record received from the Board. In Beebe v. Media Zoning Hearing Board, 5 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 29, 288 A. 2d 557 (1972), this Court held that, if a lower court admits relevant evidence in a zoning case, it acquires a duty to decide the case de novo and on the merits. To the same effect, see Lester Hauck v. Wilkes-Barre City Zoning Board of Adjustment, 2 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 76, 276 A. 2d 576 (1971). In this case the lower court seems to have realized its obligation to hear the matter de novo, because it made findings of fact and conclusions of law. Our review, therefore, should be as to whether or not that court abused its discretion, rather than as to the propriety of the ruling of the Board.
Very little evidence of any effort on the part of the landowners to carry their heavy burden in proving that the grant of a variance was mandated was to be found anywhere in the record in this case, and, in view of the record, I can find no basis on which to hold either that the Board abused its discretion or committed an error of law or that the lower court had any evidence on Avhich to base its decision granting the variance. I would reverse the ruling of the lower court and reinstate the Board’s order that the variance be denied.
Judge Rogers joins in this dissent.