Court Opinion

ID: 9645862
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:37:40.495311+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:32.286085
License: Public Domain

JONES, Chief Justice
(dissenting).
It has been my belief that one of the prime purposes of enacting the Municipalities Planning Code (Act of July 31, 1968, P.L. 805, § 101 et seq., now amended, 53 P.S. § 10101 et seq. (1972)) was to allow a municipality to comply with the law by amending its zoning ordinance to correct any deficiencies without “the pain of suffering unwanted uses sought by those seeking advantage of the latest judicially discovered imperfection.” Colonial Park for Mobile Homes, Inc. v. Zoning Hearing Board, 5 Pa. Cmwlth. 594, 602, 290 A.2d 719, 723 (1972).1
Further, I do not believe our decision in Girsh Appeal, 437 Pa. 237, 263 A.2d 395 (1970), holds otherwise.2 *233Rather, until today, I believe a lower court could consider the prompt, good faith efforts of a township to bring its zoning ordinance into compliance with the unconstitutionality cited in Girsh 3 and, where such a good faith amendment was adopted prior to court proceedings, the trial court would be permitted to dismiss the challenging landowner’s complaint. Although the majority refers to the affirmative relief granted in Girsh as mandating similar relief here, it must be noted that in Girsh the “curative” amendment was adopted over three and a half months after this Court’s decision and more than a year after the landowner’s initial challenge. Furthermore, when this Court decided to grant specific relief to the landowner in Girsh (Order dated August 29, 1972), the issue was whether a township could in “bad faith” zone around the challenging landowner. The issue of bad faith was not presented here.
I believe the trial court properly viewed this Township as promptly and reasonably curing its zoning ordinance in light of our Girsh decision. To hold in the circumstances presented here that withholding a building permit from Mr. Casey would chill future zoning challenges is an exaggeration. For even in the event that a successful challenger did not personally benefit by a curative amendment, under my reading of Girsh the landowner could still seek relief where he could show the township’s action was retaliatory.

. See Section 802 of the Municipalities Planning Code, as amended, 53 P..S. § 10802 (now repealed, 1972, June 2, P.L. 333 No. 93, § 13). In particular, this section provided that a township, upon being given notice by a landowner of his administrative and/or judicial challenge, had sixty days to amend the challenged provisions. Further, if such township cured the defect within the designated time period, the landowner was told he could either dismiss his former complaint or challenge the amended ordinance. Interestingly, although this landowner did not proceed pursuant to Section 802, the Warwick Township governing body on its own initiative cured its zoning ordinance well within the sixty days deemed reasonable by statute. Further, the only real differences between proceeding via Section 802 and as this appellant did (pursuant to Section 801) is that this landowner did not file the more detailed plans and drawings required by a complete application for development under Section 802(1) and that the Township Board of Supervisors was not specifically notified of appellant’s challenge pursuant to Section 801. Such differences, however, did not" militate that the lower court not consider the curative amendment that had been adopted prior to the time appellant’s challenge reached that court. In fact, in view of the incomplete nature of appellant’s application at the time of challenge, the Common Pleas judge held that a building permit should not be granted. Lastly, it should be noted that the majority’s interpretation of Sections 801 and 1009(2)ii rendered nugatory the more elaborate proceedings cited in Section 802 — a result the legislature could not have intended.

. In Girsh, we held that the Township’s zoning ordinance was unconstitutional to the extent that it did not provide for apart*233ments, not that the particular appellant had a vested right to build apartments on his particular ground. See Girsh Appeal, supra, 437 Pa. at 246 n. 6, 263 A.2d at 399 n. 6.

. Here, the Township began amending its zoning ordinance to comply with Girsh within two months of that decision, the curative amendment being adopted quickly thereafter.