Court Opinion

ID: 9697755
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:28:38.676977+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:35.105697
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mr. Justice Allen M. Stearne:
It is plain to me that the ordinance in question distinguishes trailer camps “presently existing” from those “hereafter [to] be established.” Under its terms a permit is to be issued to the former upon the payment of $25 but for the latter no permit fee is provided. Section five (and the following sections) refers to applications for permits “for the establishment or maintenance of any camp.” Such provisions obviously refer, both in words and spirit, to future projects. In such applications for permit the ordinance requires applicant to present a copy of the plan of the proposed camp and show proposed roadways, drives, sites, etc. This provision cannot refer to a presently existing camp because, in already established camps, there are no proposed roadways, drives, sites, etc. They already exist. Sections 7 to 16 inclusive are detailed sanitary rules and regulations with penalties for violation.
I concede that the Borough may make and enforce reasonable sanitary or police regulations. But the present ordinance, neither in words nor by necessary implication requires the owner of a “presently existing” camp to file the same application with similar require*124ments as an applicant who desires to establish and maintain a PROPOSED camp. If the ordinance was intended to apply to all camps, established or proposed, it would not have made the distinction. Such distinction would be meaningless. The Borough Council manifestly does not intend a result that is absurd: Statutory Construction Act of 1937, May 28, P. L. 1019, Art. IV, sec. 52, 46 PS 552. The fact that the Borough may hereafter promulgate and enforce sanitary rules or police regulations similar to those prerequisite to a permit for a “proposed camp” should not be considered in this case and is not now before us.
I would reverse the judgment and, therefore, dissent.