Meetings of the Zoning Hearing Board shall be held at the call of the Chairman, or at the call of any two members of the Board, and at such other times as the Board may determine. The Chairman, or in his absence the Acting Chairman, may administer oaths and compel the attendance of witnesses.

All meetings of the Board shall be open to the public. The Board shall keep minutes of its proceedings, showing the vote of each member upon each question, or if absent or failing to vote, indicating such fact, and shall keep records of its examinations and other official actions, all of which shall be immediately filed in the office of the Borough Secretary and shall be a public record.

Within the limits of funds appropriated by Borough Council, the Board may employ or contract for secretaries, clerks, legal counsel, consultants and other technical and clerical services.

Borough Council may prescribe reasonable fees with respect to hearings before the Zoning Hearing Board. Fees for said hearings may include compensation for the secretary and members of the Zoning Hearing Board, notice and advertising costs and necessary administrative overhead connected with the hearing. The costs, however, shall not include legal expenses of the Zoning Hearing Board, expenses for engineering, architectural or other technical consultants or expert witness costs.

Jurisdiction of the Board. The Zoning Hearing Board shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and render final adjudication in the following matters:

Variances. Upon appeal from a decision of the Zoning Officer in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and the rules of procedure of the Board, the Board shall have the power to vary or adjust the strict application of the requirements of this chapter in the case of an exceptionally irregular, narrow, shallow or steep lot or other exceptional physical condition not provided for in the district regulations or as a special exception, where strict application would result in practical difficulty or unnecessary hardship that would deprive the owner of the reasonable use of the land or structures involved, but in no other case. No variance in the strict application of any provisions of this chapter shall be granted by the Board unless it finds:

No person shall file any proceeding before the Zoning Hearing Board later than 30 days after a preliminary or final application for development has been approved by an appropriate Borough officer, agency or body, if such proceeding is designed to secure reversal or to limit the approval in any manner, unless such person alleges and proves that he had no notice, knowledge or reason to believe that such approval had been given. If such person has succeeded to his interest after such approval, he shall be bound by the knowledge of his predecessor in interest.

The failure of anyone, other than the landowner, to appeal from an adverse decision by the Zoning Officer on a challenge to the validity of an ordinance or map filed pursuant to Section 916.2 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. § 10916.2, shall preclude an appeal from a final approval except in the case where the final submission substantially deviates from the approved tentative approval.

All appeals from determinations adverse to the landowner shall be filed by the landowner within 30 days after notice of the determination is issued.

Upon filing of any proceeding and during its pendency before the Board, all land development pursuant to any challenged ordinance, order or approval of the Zoning Officer or of any agency or body, and all official action thereunder shall be stayed unless the Zoning Officer or any other appropriate agency or body certifies to the Board facts indicating that such stay would cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case the development or official action shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order, which may be granted by the Board or by the court having jurisdiction of zoning appeals on petition after notice to the Zoning Officer or other appropriate agency or body. When an application for development, preliminary or final, has been duly approved and proceedings designed to reverse or limit the approval are filed with the Board by persons other than the applicant, the applicant may petition the court having jurisdiction of zoning appeals to order such persons to post bond as a condition to continuing the proceedings before the Board. The question whether or not such petition should be granted and the amount of the bond shall be within the sound discretion of the court.

All appeals from decisions rendered by the Zoning Hearing Board shall be taken to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and shall be filed within 30 days after the entry of the decision or, in the case of a deemed decision, within 30 days after the date upon which notice of said deemed decision is given.

The Zoning Hearing Board shall fix a reasonable time for the hearing of the appeal within 60 days of receipt of the application, give public notice thereof, as well as due notice to the parties in interest, and decide the same within 45 days after the hearing or if said hearing is continued, within 45 days after said continued hearing.

Where the Board fails to render the decision within the required 45 days or fails to hold the public hearing within 60 days of the date of the applicant’s request for a hearing, the decision shall be deemed to have been rendered in favor of the applicant, unless the applicant has agreed, in writing or on the record, to an extension of time.

When a decision has been rendered in favor of the applicant because of the failure of the Board to meet or render a decision within the time required, the Board shall give public notice of said decision within 10 days of the last day it could have met to render a decision. If the Board shall fail to provide such notice, the applicant may do so. Nothing in this subsection shall prejudice the right of any party opposing the application to appeal the decision to a court of competent jurisdiction.

Participation in mediation shall be wholly voluntary. The appropriateness of mediation shall be determined by the particulars of each case and the willingness of the parties to negotiate. The Borough, in offering the mediation option, shall assure that in each case, the mediating parties, assisted by the mediator as appropriate, develop terms and conditions for:

No offers or statements made in the mediation sessions, excluding the final written mediated agreement, shall be admissible as evidence in any subsequent judicial or administrative proceedings.