A Zoning Hearing Board is hereby established by the Board of Supervisors to carry out the functions set out in this article and to conduct its proceedings in accordance with this article.

Membership of the Zoning Hearing Board.

Term of office.

Alternate members.

Removal of members.

Organization of the Zoning Hearing Board.

Expenditures for services.

Appeals from decisions of the Zoning Officer.

Variances.

Challenges to the validity of this chapter and others affecting land development in Franklin Township.

An appeal, challenge or request for a variance or other action may be filed, in writing, with the Secretary of the Board by, or on behalf of, any owner of property in the Township, by any tenant wishing a variance with the permission of his/her landlord, by any officer or agency of the Township, or by any aggrieved person.

When a request for a hearing is received by the Secretary, the Board shall schedule and commence the hearing within 60 days, unless the applicant has agreed, in writing, to an extension.

Hearings shall be conducted by the Board or by a hearing officer member, whose decision or findings, where no decision is required, may be considered final by the parties prior to the decision, requiring no further action by the Board.

The parties to a hearing shall be the Township, the applicant and anyone affected by the application and any civic or community organization or any aggrieved person who or which requests, in writing, the opportunity to appear prior to the hearing, or on appearance forms provided at the hearing.

Notice of the hearing shall be mailed to all parties of the hearing, and in addition to the Zoning Officer, Board of Supervisors, owners of properties abutting or directly across an intervening street from the boundary of the property or properties affected by the hearing and others who have filed a timely request to receive notice. Such notices by mailing shall be placed in the mail not less than 14 days prior to the hearing.

Public notice shall be placed twice in a newspaper of general local circulation, once in each of two consecutive weeks, the first notice not more than 30 days, and the second notice not less than seven days before the hearing. In addition, if a variance approval or hearing on a substantive challenge is sought, or an appeal requested, notice shall be placed conspicuously on the affected property and posted at the Township Building at least seven days before the hearing.

Newspaper and letter notices shall indicate the date, time, place of the hearing and the specific nature of the matter to be heard.

The Chairperson, or hearing officer if designated by the Board, or the Solicitor appointed by vote of the Board, shall conduct the hearing and shall have the power to administer oaths and issue subpoenas to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of relevant documents, including those witnesses and documents requested by the parties. Hearings may be continued over two or more sessions if agreeable to the parties without the need for readvertisement.

The parties shall have the right to be represented by counsel and shall have the opportunity to respond and present evidence and arguments, and to cross-examine adverse witnesses on all relevant issues. Formal rules of evidence shall not apply. Irrelevant, immaterial, or unduly repetitious evidence may be excluded by the Chairperson.

The Board shall cause to have kept a stenographic record of the proceedings. The appearance fee for a stenographer shall be shared equally by the applicant and the Board. The cost of the original transcript shall be paid for by the Board if the Board requests it, or by the applicant if contesting a decision of the Board. Any other transcript of the proceedings and/or copies of graphic or written material received in evidence shall be made available to any party at cost to that party.

The Board, or the hearing officer, shall not communicate, directly or indirectly, with any party and/or representatives of any party in connection with any issue relevant to the hearing, except upon notice and opportunity for all parties to participate; shall not take notice of any communications, reports or other materials, except advice from the Board's Solicitor, unless all parties are afforded an opportunity to contest the material so noticed; and shall not inspect any site or its surroundings with any party and/or representative of any party after the start of the hearing unless all parties are given an opportunity to be present.

The Board or hearing officer shall render a written decision or, when no decision is required, written findings on the application within 45 days after the conclusion of the hearing. When the application is contested or denied, the decision shall be accompanied by findings of fact and conclusions based on them together with the reasons therefor. The Board or hearing officer may attach reasonable conditions to approval intended to protect the neighborhood sand the public health, safety and welfare.

If the hearing is conducted by a hearing officer and there has been no stipulation, the decision or findings are final, the Board shall make the hearing officer's report, decision or recommendations available to the parties within 45 days after the hearing. The parties shall be entitled to make written representations thereon to the Board, which shall convene as a whole and render a final decision and entry of findings not later than 30 days after the hearing officer's decision or report.

A copy of the final decision, or the findings if no decision is required, shall be mailed to the applicant no later than the day after the date of the decision. All others requesting notice of the decision not later than the last day of the hearing shall receive by mail a brief summary of the findings or decision and a notice of the place where the full decision or findings may be examined.

When the Board or hearing officer fails to render a decision and notify the applicant within 45 days after the hearing, or fails to hold the public hearing within 60 days of receiving the request for one, the decision shall be deemed to have been rendered in favor of the applicant, unless the applicant and the Board have agreed, in writing, to a specific time extension. If the Board fails to schedule a hearing or render a decision within the prescribed time limits, the Board shall place a public notice in a newspaper of general local circulation within 10 days of the expiration of the period for commencing the hearing or making the decision, indicating that the request or appeal has been decided in favor of the applicant. In addition, the affected property shall be posted with the same information, and those who have requested written notice shall be mailed the notice within the ten-day period.

Once the Zoning Officer has acted on a development proposal pursuant to the regulations of this chapter, any party may appeal the decision to the Zoning Hearing Board not later than 30 days after the Zoning Officer has issued a permit, unless the appealing party can prove he/she had no knowledge of the decision within the thirty-day period. A second party succeeding in interest shall be bound by the first party's knowledge.

Upon the filing of an appeal to overturn or limit an approved action, and while an appeal is pending before the Board, any development affected by the appeal shall be halted unless the Zoning Officer certifies to the Board that suspension would cause imminent peril to life and property. In this case, suspension will occur only by a restraining order granted by the Board or by the Beaver County Court.

When an application for development has been duly approved, and proceedings intended to reverse or limit the approval are filed with the Board by persons other than the applicant, the applicant shall have the right to petition the court to require the appealing party to post a bond as a condition of continuing the appeal, the amount of the bond to be determined by the court. The court shall hear the petition, determine whether the appeal is frivolous, and, if so, may require the posting of a bond by the appealing party.

Appeals from decisions of the Board, or upon reports of the Board in proceedings to challenge the validity of any ordinance, shall be filed within 30 days of the decision or date of the report with the Beaver County Court of Common Pleas.