Agenda - Planning Commission - 06/01/2017

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Zoning Bulletin May 10, 2017 I Volume 11 I Issue 9 DECISION: Judgment of Court of Common Pleas reversed. The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that the ZBA erred in granting the variance to Bernadino because the ZBA had "improperly concluded that denying the variance would result in hardship due to physical circumstances or conditions unique to the property" one of the necessary criteria for the granting of a variance. The court explained that, pursuant to the City's Zoning Code, to find an unnecessary hardship in the case of a use variance, such as in the case at hand, the ZBA had to make various findings, including that the hardship was due to physical circumstances or conditions unique to the Property, and "not to circumstances or conditions generally created by the provisions of this Zoning Code in the [RSA-3 Zoning District where the Property was located.]" (See Philadelphia Zoning Code § 14- 303(8)(e)(.2).) The court emphasized that the hardship "must be unique to the property at issue, not a hardship arising from the impact of the zoning regulations on the entire district." Here, the court found the evidence showed clearly that every prop- erty in Bernadino's neighborhood was "hampered by parking limita- tions and [was] bound by the same surface parking restrictions set forth [the Zoning Code]." The court found that there was "nothing unique about the Property's physical circumstances or conditions that create[d] • an unnecessary hardship" here. Thus, finding that Bernadino failed to satisfy the Zoning Code requirement that the unnecessary hardship not be "[due] to circumstances or conditions generally created by the provi- sions of [the Zoning Code in the RSA-3 Zoning District]," as mandated by the Zoning Code, the court concluded that there was no evidence before the ZBA of an unnecessary hardship unique or peculiar to the Property. Accordingly, the court concluded that the ZBA had improperly granted the variance to Bernadino. See also: Singer v. Philadelphia Zoning Bd. of Adjustment, 29 A.3d 144 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2011). Zoning News from Around the Nation CONNECTICUT The state's Department of Housing has "proposed a statewide inclusionary zoning bill requiring a percentage of units in a newly cre- ated development to qualify as affordable housing." If House Bill 7298 is adopted, "Connecticut will be the first state in the nation to have statewide inclusionary zoning." Provisions of the proposed bill include: "[r]eserving a set percentage of units in all newly created multifamily © 2017 Thomson Reuters 11