Court Opinion

ID: 9705382
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 01:04:50.062718+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:10.737257
License: Public Domain

Dissenting opinion by
Judge LEADBETTER,
in which President Judge DOYLE joins.
LEADBETTER, Judge, dissenting.
I respectfully dissent because I read the majority opinion to remand this case to common pleas for disposition of the merits of the Ories’ appeal, which I believe is inappropriate under the circumstances. Regardless of the good faith of the Ories, or whether they reasonably believed that sending a letter was a sufficient method of stating their objection, the ZHB could not, as a matter of law, consider the letter in its deliberations. Section 908(8) of the MPC provides, in relevant part:
The board or the hearing officer shall not communicate, directly or indirectly, with any party or his representatives in connection with any issue involved except upon notice and opportunity for all parties to participate, shall not take notice of any communication, reports, staff memoranda, or other materials, except advice from their solicitor, unless the parties are afforded an opportunity to contest the material so noticed....
53 P.S. § 10908(8). Letters to the ZHB which are not made part of the record at the public hearing deprive other parties of the opportunity to answer or contest the matters they contain. Moreover, since such communications are not only outside the record but may not be considered by the ZHB, they are inadequate to preserve the arguments they contain as issues for appellate review. I believe that mere submission of a document which the ZHB may not consider and which preserves no issues for appellate review is insufficient to preserve the right to appeal on the merits.1
*626Nonetheless, I agree with the majority that the primary responsibility for assuring compliance with proper procedures and making sure all parties have a right to be heard lies with the ZHB. [Majority op. at p. - n. 4.] Thus, where the objectors have acted in good faith and have complied with all rules established by the ZHB, as did the Ories here, I would not quash their appeal, but would remand to the ZHB to hold a supplemental hearing at which the written objection was made part of the record and other parties given an opportunity to respond. Any appeal thereafter will be on a complete record and the reviewing court will be able to engage in meaningful appellate review.
President Judge DOYLE joins in this dissenting opinion.

. We acknowledge that in Gateside-Queens-gate the letter was similarly not read into the record. However, it is evident from the opinion that the mandate of § 908(8) of the MPC was not before the court in that case. Moreover, since the Board in Gateside-Queensgate had a policy of accepting and considering such submissions (which were customarily *626read into the record) and so advised objectors, that case is readily distinguishable from this.