Ohara Township City Zoning Code

Before voting on the enactment of an amendment, Township Council shall hold a public hearing thereon, pursuant to public notice, which notice shall also be served by mail or electronically to any owner of land or mineral rights within the Township that has requested that such notices be sent to them pursuant to Section 109 of the MPC.[1] In addition to the requirement that notice be posted under this section, where the proposed amendment involves a Zoning Map change, notice of the public hearing shall be mailed by the Township at least 30 days prior to the date of the hearing by first class mail to the addressees to which real estate tax bills are sent for all real property located within the area being rezoned, as evidenced by tax records within the possession of the Township. The notice shall include the location, date and time of the public hearing. A good faith effort and substantial compliance shall satisfy the requirements of this subsection. This section shall not apply when the rezoning constitutes a comprehensive rezoning.

In the case of an amendment other than that prepared by the Planning Commission, Township Council shall submit each such amendment to the Planning Commission at least 30 days prior to the hearing on such proposed amendment to provide the Planning Commission an opportunity to submit recommendations. In addition, where a request for consideration of a rezoning application has been filed, all owners of property within 300 linear feet of the subject property or properties shall be notified by regular mail of the date of the first meeting or scheduled public hearing at which the application will be discussed. The applicant shall provide to the Township staff a list containing the names of the aforementioned property owners.

If, after any public hearing held upon an amendment, the proposed amendment is changed substantially, or is revised, to include land previously not affected by it, Township Council shall hold another public hearing, pursuant to public notice, before proceeding to vote on the amendment.

If a county planning agency shall have been created for the county in which the municipality proposing the amendment is located, then at least 30 days prior to the public hearing on the amendment by the local governing body, the municipality shall submit the proposed amendment to the county planning agency for recommendations.

O'Hara Township may offer a mediation option as an aid in completing proceedings authorized by this section. In exercising such an option, O'Hara Township and mediating parties shall meet the stipulations and follow the procedures set forth in § 455-20.9 of this chapter.

Within 30 days after enactment, a copy of the amendment to this chapter shall be forwarded to the County Planning Agency.

A landowner who desires to challenge on substantive grounds the validity of a zoning ordinance or map or any provision thereof, which prohibits or restricts the use or development of land in which they have an interest may submit a curative amendment to the Township Council with a written request that their challenge and proposed amendment be heard and decided as provided in Section 916.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended.[1] Township Council shall commence a hearing thereon within 60 days of the request as provided for in this article. The curative amendment and challenge shall be referred to the Planning Commission or agencies as provided in Section 609 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended,[2] and notice of the hearing thereon shall be given as provided in Section 610 and 916.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended.[3]

The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with Section 908 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended,[4] and all references therein to the Zoning Hearing Board shall, for purposes of this section, be references to "Township Council"; provided, however, that the provisions of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, as amended, Section 908, Subsections (1.2) and (9), shall not apply, and the provisions of Section 916.1 shall control.[5] If O'Hara Township does not accept a landowner's curative amendment brought in accordance with this subsection and a court subsequently rules that the challenge has merit, the court's decision shall not result in a declaration of invalidity for the entire Zoning Ordinance and map, but only for those provisions which specifically relate to the landowner's curative amendment and challenge.

Where O'Hara Township has determined that a validity challenge has merit, it may accept a landowner's curative amendment, with or without revision, or it may adopt an alternative amendment which will cure the challenged defects. Township Council shall consider the curative amendments, plans and explanatory material submitted by the landowner and shall also consider:

A landowner who has challenged on substantive grounds the validity of a zoning ordinance or map either by submission of a curative amendment to the Township Council under Subsection (a)(2) of Section 916.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247 of 1968, as amended,[6] or to the Zoning Hearing Board under Section 909.1(a)(1)[7] shall not submit any additional substantive challenges involving the same parcel, group of parcels or part thereof until such time as the status of the landowner's original challenge has been finally determined or withdrawn; provided, however, that is after the date of the landowner's original challenge the Township adopts a substantially new or different zoning ordinance or Zoning Map, the landowner may file a second substantive challenge to the new or different zoning ordinance or Zoning Map under Subsection (a) of Section 916.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.[8]

O'Hara Township shall declare, by formal action, its Zoning Ordinance or portions thereof substantively invalid and propose to prepare a curative amendment to overcome such invalidity. Within 30 days following such declaration and proposal, Township Council shall:

Within 180 days from the date of the declaration and proposal, O'Hara Township shall enact a curative amendment to validate, or reaffirm the validity of, its Zoning Ordinance pursuant to the provisions required by Section 609 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended,[1] in order to cure the declared invalidity of the Zoning Ordinance.

Upon the initiation of the procedures, as set forth in Subsection A(1), Township Council shall not be required to entertain or consider any landowner's curative amendment filed under Section 609.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended,[2] nor shall the Zoning Hearing Board be required to give a report requested under Section 909.1 or 916.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended,[3] subsequent to the declaration and proposal based upon the grounds identical to or substantially similar to those specified in the resolution required by Subsection A(1)(a). Upon completion of the procedures as set forth in Subsection A(1) and (2), no rights to a cure pursuant to the provisions of Sections 609.1 and 916.1 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, Act 247, as amended, shall, from the date of the declaration and proposal, accrue to any landowner on the basis of the substantive invalidity of the unamended Zoning Ordinance for which there has been a curative amendment pursuant to this section.

O'Hara Township, having utilized the procedures as set forth in Subsection A(1) and (2), may not again utilize said procedure for a thirty-six-month period following the date of the enactment of a curative amendment, or reaffirmation of the validity of its Zoning Ordinance, pursuant to Subsection A(2); provided, however, if after the date of the declaration and proposal there is a substantially new duty or obligation imposed upon O'Hara Township by virtue of a change in statute or by virtue of a Pennsylvania Appellate Court decision, O'Hara Township may utilize the provisions of this section to prepare a curative amendment to its ordinance to fulfill said duty or obligation.