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September 25, 2014 I Volume 8 I Issue 18 <br />Zoning Bulletin <br />oning Ne s fr <br />Nation <br />MARYLAND <br />r un th <br />Some residents are challenging Ocean City's rules "on who can rent <br />single-family homes on a weekly basis." Ocean City's Planning and Zon- <br />ing Commission reportedly planned to hold a public hearing to decide <br />whether weekly rentals should be allowed in any residential areas. Com- <br />mission members were expected to form a recommendation to send to <br />the mayor and Town Council for a final vote. <br />Source: The News Journal; www.delawareonline.com <br />NEW YORK <br />New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio's administration reportedly is <br />looking to change a 2009 zoning code that allows for divided housing. <br />The changes target a "2009 loophole to the city's Inclusionary Housing <br />Program that allows developers . . . access to subsidies if they construct <br />affordable housing units, either on- or off -site." Developers have since <br />constructed in the same building separate electrical systems and elevator <br />systems and building entrances for the affordable housing units, which <br />were classified as "off -site." <br />Source: Newsweek; www.newsweekcom <br />PENNSYLVANIA <br />Pennsylvania's Public Utility Commission (PUC) "has appealed the <br />recent Commonwealth Court decision, which stripped the agency of its <br />authority to review local zoning ordinances regarding Marcellus Shale <br />natural gas drilling. The state's drilling law, enacted in 2012, gave the <br />PUC authority to decide whether or not a municipality's zoning ordi- <br />nances complied with the state constitution and the new rules regarding <br />natural gas drilling. . . . It also allowed those who disagreed with the <br />ordinances to bypass local zoning hearing boards, and appeal directly to <br />the PUC or the Commonwealth Court." The state's high court ruled in <br />December that these restrictions on local zoning for natural gas develop- <br />ment were unconstitutional. Last month, the state's commonwealth court <br />ruled that given the state supreme court's ruling, it made no sense to have <br />challenges to local zoning ordinances bypass the current process, and go <br />directly to either the PUC or the commonwealth court. The July decision <br />effectively removed the PUC from the new role created for the agency by <br />Act 13. <br />Source: Statelmpact; httn://stateimoact.nor.org <br />12 © 2014 Thomson Reuters <br />