"Once an applicant for a conditional use permit has presented evidence to establish the specified standards in the ordinance, the application must be granted, unless the protestors to such an application have presented sufficient evidence that such a use would pose a substantial threat to the community.” (citations omitted)
How later courts described this case
- "Once an applicant for a conditional use permit has presented evidence to establish the specified standards in the ordinance, the application must be granted, unless the protestors to such an application have presented sufficient evidence that such a use would pose a substantial threat to the community.” (citations omitted)
- trial court's standard of review of Board's decision, where court does not take additional evidence, is limited to determining whether there was an abuse of discretion or error of law
- "appropriate scope of review for this Court, in a denial of conditional use permit, is limited to whether an abuse of discretion or an error of law has been committed"
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
LARSEN, Justice,
concurring.
I join the opinion of the majority. I write separately, however, to emphasize why this Court finds that the location of appellee VisionQuest’s wilderness camp would be a detriment to the community in which it is located.
The closest neighbors of appellee’s wilderness camp, i.e., those within a half mile radius, include a bible camp, which hosts 250 campers during the summer months; a retirement community, which houses 325 elderly residents and staff year round; and two campgrounds, one of which sees a pass-through population of approximately 1,000 people from April 15 through October 15. Notes of Testimony (N.T.) at 27-32 (April 23, 1984) and N.T. at 119-21 (December 20, 1983).
As Mr. Justice Musmanno noted with his usual expressiveness:
[TJownship authorities have the right to refuse to allow in the midst of its territory an omnipresent, possible disaster. No one could reasonably object if the township declined to permit a tiger farm within its geographical limits, regardless of the height of the walls built around the tigers, and regardless how expert might be the tiger trainers employed to guard these creatures of the jungle.
Tidewater Oil Company v. Poore, 395 Pa. 89 at 96 , 149 A.2d 636 at 639 (1959). Although appellee is to be commended for trying to turn around the lives of severely troubled youths, its “wilderness” camp should not be located in close proximity to nearly one thousand people, most of whom are either elderly or living temporarily in tents and *117 camper trailers and cannot even retreat to the safety of a secured home when one of those “out of control” youths is on the loose. It must be noted as well that Honey Brook Township has only a part-time police force (eight hours per day, six days per week), and the State Police take up to two hours to respond to a call from the community. N.T. at 21-22 (June 4, 1984). Clearly, there was substantial evidence to support the Board’s finding that appellee’s use of the property in question was detrimental to the health, safety and welfare of the community. In fact, if the Board would have found otherwise, it would have been error.
Accordingly, I join the order of the majority reversing the order of the Commonwealth Court.