The MuNews

The Commonwealth Court has reaffirmed prior decisions that prohibit the parking of trucks in residential zones.  Lancaster Township v. Grosick, 1754 C.D. 2009 (filed May 27, 2010).  The Commonwealth Court overruled the lower court that had upheld the zoning hearing board’s decision that the owner could use a storage garage in a residential zone to house three truck cabs and four trailers as an accessory use to the primary residential use.  The Commonwealth Court reaffirmed that the storage or parking of commercial vehicles does not satisfy the definition of accessory use.  Since the trucks were used to haul freight in the owner’s business, they could not be considered the owner’s private or personal vehicles.  If the vehicles are integral to the owner’s business, then they will be deemed to be commercial in nature, and parking them in a residential area is neither incidental nor customary to the residential property.

 In In re Appeal of Arnold, 147 C.D. 2009 (Commonwealth Court, filed August 13, 2009), the Commonwealth Court has clarified when a Board makes a final decision.  In this case, the Appellant argued that it was not the public vote in December that was the final decision, but rather the date when the written decision was issued in January.   The Appellant opposed a conditional use for a Wal-Mart that was approved by a 2-1 vote.  One of the supervisors who voted for the conditional use did not win re-election, and the Apellant argued that the “final” written decision was only a 1-1 vote. The Commonwealth Court did not buy that argument.   The Commonwealth Court noted that the Sunshine Act requires that all votes must be publicly cast and must take place at a meeting open to the public.  The only purpose of a written decision under the MPC is to explain the reasoning and basis for the vote – not to vote again.  To hold otherwise would open the door to a governing body voting one way at the open meeting and then issuing a written final decision at odds with the vote.

Once again, the Federal Trade Commission has delayed enforcement of the Red Flags Rules.   Enforcement is now set to take effect June 1, 2010.  Originally, the rule went into effect on January 1, 2008 but compliance was deferred until November 1, 2009.