Agenda - Planning Commission - 03/02/2017

Home

Zoning Bulletin January 25, 2017 I Volume 11 I Issue 2 "squarely within the definition in question." Responding to the Trust's argu- ment, the court noted that "[n]othing within the text of the Ordinance required that all of the courses required by the State or the entirety of those courses be taught on each piece of property or in each building where a secondary school operates." Such a reading "would create an absurd result," said the court. As for the administrative offices use, the court found that it was "so integral to the functioning of the school that it [was] indistinguishable from the school," and therefore permissible as a Secondary School use under the Ordinance. The Planning Board had interpreted the Ordinance to mean that "a `school' is more than just a collection of classrooms and then found that the Academy's proposed use fell within this more fulsome view of `school." The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine agreed. See also: Dickau v. Vermont Mut. Ins. Co., 2014 ME 158, 107 A.3d 621 (Me. 2014). Special Exception —Company applies for special exception but fails to submit site plan as required by ordinance Company contends witness testimony during hearings satisfied all required ordinance criteria Citation: EDF Renewable Energy v. Foster Township Zoning Hearing Board, 2016 WL 6873015 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2016) PENNSYLVANIA (11/22/16)—This case addressed the issue of whether a renewable energy company satisfied objective requirements of a special excep- tion in an ordinance such that the special exception should have been granted. The Background/Facts: In July 2014, EDF Renewable Energy ("EDF") sought to construct approximately 25 wind turbines, as well as roads, collec- tion cables, and a substation on properties located in Foster Township's C-1 (Conservation), A-1 (Agricultural), and I-1 (General Industrial) zoning districts. A wind turbine use was neither specifically permitted nor denied in those districts. A Township ordinance provided that whenever a use was nei- ther specifically permitted nor denied in a district, the zoning hearing officer had to refer an application for such use to the Township's Zoning Hearing Board (the "ZHB") to hear and decide as a special exception. Pursuant to that provision, EDF's proposal was submitted as an application for a special excep- tion to the ZHB. Ultimately, the ZHB denied EDF's application. The ZHB denied the ap- plication, in relevant part, on its determination that EDF failed to comply with the objective criteria of the ordinance. Specifically, the ZHB found that EDF failed to file with its application for a special exception a site plan to the scale, and with detailed information, as required by the ordinance. The ZHB also © 2017 Thomson Reuters 7