Agenda - Planning Commission - 09/04/2008

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Zoning Bulletin mined that the ordinance required tha:tBoyce road, as' well as the access -j road, be adjusted by Jade Realty to meet the relevant town standards. Jade Realty appealed. The lower court found that both definitions of "intersection" were possible. It concluded that, in part because of this perceived ambiguity, the CEO's interpretation was correct. The court affirmed the CEO's in- terpretation of "intersection" and vacated the Board's decision. The town appealed. DECISION: Vacated; Board's determination affirmed. On appeal, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine noted that the inter- pretation of a zoning ordinance wasa question of law, which it reviewed anew. It said that when interpreting an ordinance, it looked to the plain meaning of the language in order to find the intent of the -legislation. It would only look beyond the words of the ordinance if it was unclear on . its face. The court also noted that an ordinance should be interpreted as a whole so as not to read a provision out of existence or render a provi- sion as not needed. The Court found that, notwithstanding the argument of Jade Realty and the Board, the outcome of the appeal did not hinge ort the meaning of "in- tersection." Looking at the plain language of the ordinance, the court con- cluded that Boyce Road had to comply with town standards for that length of access road-whether the intersection 'was a line or an area of overlap. In reaching its conclusion, the court rejected Jade Realty's argument that the ordinance only required that the access road 'be built to standard. The court said this interpretation clearly failed because it read the ordi- nance out of existence. Under such a reading, said the court, the ordinance would not req]fire anything not already required by town standards since the access road already was required to be built to meet town standards. See also: Bodack v. Town of Ogunquit, 2006 ME 127,.909 A.2d 620 (Me. 2006). Failure to Act-Board fails to act within five- day t,ime limit of township/s ordinanc~ . . Landowner argues failure to act results in a deemed approval Citation: LVGC Partners, LP v. Jackson Tp. Bd. of Supervisors, 948 .A.2d 235 (Pa; Commw. Ct. 2008) PENNSYLVANIA (05/12/08) - LVGC Partners, LP and Lebanon Val- ley Golf Club, Inc. (collectively, LVGP) owned a parcel of land in the 6 @ 2008 T.homson ReuterslWest 76 I I I I i I i I i I I l ! j j I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I , I I I i I 1