Opinion

Torak v. Board of Adjustment of Upper Merion Township

  • 2 Pa. Commw. 48
  • 277 A.2d 521
  • 1971 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 417
Court
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
Filed
May 5, 1971
Status
Published
Author
Kramer
On the bench
Bowman, Crumlish, Kramer, Mandepjno, Manderino, Mencer, Rogers, Wilkinson
Cited by
4 cases
Authority
More cited than 9.0%

The opinion

Concurring Opinion by

Judge Kramer:

The realty involved in this case is an island completely surrounded by the asphalt and concrete of roads, one of which is the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The only building on this one and one-third acre plot is occupied by appellants’ restaurant business, which covers about five per cent of the total land area. The remainder is used for parking and other restaurant purposes.

According to the record, the only property owner who could be affected adversely by the granting of the full variance requested would be the neighboring country club, insofar as it too may operate restaurant facilities.

I find the record devoid of any explanation as to the reasons for which the realty in question was zoned “ag *51 ricultural”, thereby causing appellants’ use to become nonconforming.

This case appears to be a classic example of the occasional unfairness of zoning restrictions. It is to be noted that appellants chose the variance route and did not apply for a building permit under the natural expansion doctrine. This doctrine is reviewed and refined in Silver v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 435 Pa. 99 , 255 A. 2d 506 (1969).

However, a review of the record discloses that neither the Board nor the lower court abused their discretion or committed an error of law, in that the appellants did not meet their burden of proof to support a variance. Therefore, I concur in the result of the majority.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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