Court Opinion

ID: 9736838
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:08:10.840558+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:54.983226
License: Public Domain

KELLEY, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
This appeal involves a challenge to a zoning ordinance enacted by Lower Merion Township which permits “student homes” to be located in residential areas only if allowed by special exception. The majority rejects the appellants’ equal protection argument, concluding that the ordinance is rationally related to the legitimate purpose of preserving the residential character of the community and that the classification of student homes is not arbitrary or unreasonable.
In its brief, the zoning hearing board cites a U.S. Supreme Court case, Village of Belle Terre v. Boraas, 416 U.S. 1, 94 S.Ct. 1536, 39 L.Ed.2d 797 (1974), in which the court held that a municipality may regulate the number of unrelated people living together in a household. I believe that case is clearly distinguishable from this case where the restriction of how persons may live together is based solely on the fact that they are students. When a municipality restricts the number of unrelated persons who may live together, there is a rational basis for the regulation because it is clear that unrelated persons will require more parking, etc., and that the residential character of a neighborhood will be changed by their presence.
In the present case, the restricted class is defined solely on the basis of the fact that they are students. This is the equivalent of defining a group based on what they do for a living. If an ordinance restricted where plumbers could live, *247or coal miners or all blue collar workers, we would hold that classification as arbitrary and a violation of equal protection. But because the classification is “student” we accept the zoning hearing board’s discriminatory stereotype of students as rowdy, noisy, undesirable neighbors. The ordinance clearly works a violation of equal protection when three or more college age students who work full-time can live together without restriction while two or more students cannot.
Accordingly, I would reverse the trial court and hold that the ordinance violates equal protection. I would also overrule this court’s Lautos decision, cited by the majority, which upheld the constitutionality of an ordinance similar to the one at issue here.
McGINLEY, J., joins in this dissent.