Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />Page 2 - May 10, 1997 <br /> <br />Z.B. <br /> <br />Zoning Violation - Township gives adult-entertainment bar 30 days to <br />clean up act <br />Moon Township v. Cammel, 687 A.2d 1181 (Pennsylvania) 1997 <br />Fantasy's Showbar in Moon Township, Pa., served alcohol and featured <br />female dancers wearing G-strings and pasties. <br />In 1995, Fantasy changed its entertainment to all-nude dancing, and put its <br />liquor license in escrow so it could no longer be regulated by the Pennsylvania <br />Liquor Control Board. Fantasy also began to offer free beer, instead of selling it. <br />Soon after, the township, acting on the Municipalities Planning Code, gave <br />Fantasy a zoning-violation notice. According to the township, because Fantasy <br />had changed its operation, it had gone from a lawful, preexisting nonconforming <br />use to a more nonconforming use that the zoning board had not approved. <br />According to the planning code, a municipality had to include in a zoning- <br />violation notice certain pieces of information. The notice had to describe the <br />violation, the steps needed to comply and the deadline for doing so. In addition, <br />the notice had to inform the property owner it could appeal the notice to the <br />zoning board. If the property owner didn't appeal, this was automatically <br />considered a zoning violation. <br />The township's notice contained the necessary information, stating Fantasy <br />had 30 days to comply with law, and that it could appeal the notice to the board <br />within the 3D-day period. <br />On the third day of the 3D-day period, the township filed citations with a <br />district justice, claiming Fantasy had violated the zoning ordinance by not getting <br />an occupancy permit after changing to a more nonconforming use. The justice <br />dismissed the citation because the township hadn't given Fantasy the 3D-day <br />period to respond to the notice. <br />The 3D-day period passed, and Fantasy didn't appeal the notice to the zoning <br />board. The township filed new citations. The justice held a hearing and found <br />Fantasy had violated the zoning ordinance. <br />Before the district justice decided the citation issue, the township also asked <br />a court for both a temporary and permanent order to keep Fantasy from operating <br />in violation of the ordinance. The township argued that because Fantasy never <br />appealed the original notice to the board, it was violating the planning code. <br />Fantasy argued that when the township filed the citations, it was deprived <br />of its right to appeal the notice. Fantasy said the justice's dismissal of the citations <br />resolved the notice issue in its favor. In addition, Fantasy argued the change to <br />an all-nude establishment was not a change in use. <br />The court dismissed the township's request for a temporary order. It said <br />the township's decision to file citations before the 3D-day period ended hindered <br />Fantasy's constitutional right to appeal the notice to the board. But Fantasy <br />didn't even have to appeal the notice, the court said, because the justice's <br />dismissal of the first citations made an appeal unnecessary. <br />The court also said the transition from pasties and G-strings to an all-nude <br />bar did not amount to a change in use. <br /> <br />.t.t3 <br />