With respect to variances, a hardship existing on one lot may not be considered a hardship on an abutting lot.
McCarry v. Haverford Twp. Zoning Hearing Bd., 113 A.3d 381 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2015).
Variances
Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment for the City of Philadelphia (Callowhill Center Associates) (2002)
Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight v. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment for the City of Philadelphia (Callowhill Center Associates)
804 A.2d 116 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2002)
Pohlig Builders, LLC v. Zoning Hearing Bd. (2011)
Variance from steep slope provisions is a hybrid variance (i.e., neither a use nor dimensional variance). Additionally, landowner's pre-purchase knowledge of the steep slope provisions in the ordinance did not make the hardship self-created.
Pohlig Builders, LLC v. Zoning Hearing Bd., 25 A.3d 1260 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2011).
Laurel Point Associates v. Susquehanna Twp. Zoning Hearing Board (2006)
Landowner failed to satisfy any of the evidentiary approaches used to establish the confiscation element of a “validity variance.”
Laurel Point Associates v. Susquehanna Twp. Zoning Hearing Board,
887 A.2d 796 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2005), app. denied, 903 A.2d 1235 (Pa. 2006).
Pham v. Upper Merion Twp. Zoning Hearing Bd. (2015)
Creating a situation in which a property is difficult to sell due to substantial improvements does not create a hardship.
Pham v. Upper Merion Twp. Zoning Hearing Bd., 113 A.3d 879 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2015).
Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight v. ZHB of Adjustment for the City of Philadelphia (Conrail) (2001)
Applicability of the MPC to City of Philadelphia and question of whether "improper" zoning constitutes a "hardship" sufficient to permit a variance under the MPC.
Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight et. al. V. Zoning Board of Adjustment for the City of Philadelphia (Conrail), 772 A 2d. 1040, Cmwlth., 2001
Boyer v. Zoning Hearing Bd. of Franklin Twp. (2010)
Steep slope overlay regulations do not create the hardship that is necessary to justify a variance.
Boyer v. Zoning Hearing Bd. of Franklin Twp., 987 A.2d 219 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2010).
Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB) v. Zoning Board of Adjustment (2006)
There must be substantial evidence of record supporting the elements of a variance in order to uphold the grant of such relief by a zoning hearing board.
Society Created to Reduce Urban Blight (SCRUB) v. Zoning Board of Adjustment, 908 A.2d 967 (Pa. Commw. 2006).
Schadt v. City of Bethlehem Zoning Hearing Bd. (2015)
The standards for a variance do not permit a single-family home to be converted into a professional office in a district in which such offices are not permitted where applicant has lived in the house for 40 years and cannot, therefore, show that the house cannot be used in conformity with the zoning ordinance.
Schadt v. City of Bethlehem Zoning Hearing Bd., 119 A.3d 439 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2015).
Yeager v. ZHB of the City of Allentown (2001)
VARIANCE - HARDSHIP TO PROPERTY NOT PERSON.
Yeager v. ZHB of the City of Allentown, Pa. Commw. (June 14, 2001)
Cite: 779 A.2d 595
Cross Reference: MPC 910.2