Pursuant to the authority granted Council by the Pennsylvania
Municipalities Planning Code, the existent three-member Zoning Hearing Board created
under previous ordinances of the Borough is confirmed as, and shall
continue as, the Zoning Hearing Board of the Borough.
The members of the Zoning Hearing Board shall serve without
compensation but may be reimbursed by Council for necessary and reasonable
expenses incurred in the performance of their duties.
[Amended 9-22-1986 by Ord. No. 86-4]
A. Beginning on the second Tuesday in February and to and including
the second Tuesday in February of the following year, the Zoning Hearing
Board shall hold regular meetings on the second and fourth Tuesdays
of each month at 7:30 p.m. for the purposes of conducting hearings
on cases before it, taking formal and final action on such cases before
it as may be ready for the entry of decisions, and resuming hearings
in those cases before it where previously scheduled hearings were
continued, postponed, rescheduled or otherwise adjourned for resumption
at a later date. If there are no cases pending before the Zoning Hearing
Board which require hearings, the entry of decisions or other action
at a regularly scheduled meeting, the Chairman of the Zoning Hearing
Board may cancel that particular meeting.
B. Despite anything implied to the contrary in Subsection
A, the Zoning Hearing Board may schedule such additional regular meetings and may hold such special meetings as it may determine are necessary or appropriate and, after taking into consideration the time limitations and procedural requirements prescribed by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and other applicable laws, may schedule, reschedule, postpone, continue or adjourn hearings on cases before it for or to such dates and times as it may determine are reasonably necessary or appropriate in order to accommodate the parties to the case, their counsel, the public, the hearing stenographer, or others, or in order to satisfy any time limitations or procedural requirements prescribed by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code or other applicable law.
C. Pursuant to the provisions of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, all regular and special meetings of the Zoning Hearing
Board and all hearings conducted by the Zoning Hearing Board shall
be open to the public.
The Zoning Hearing Board may make such rules to govern its meetings,
hearings or hearing procedures and may require the use of such forms
in connection with its proceedings or procedures as are permitted
by and consistent with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and other applicable laws.
The functions and duties of the Zoning Hearing Board shall be
those prescribed by, and the powers of the Zoning Hearing Board shall
be those granted by, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code.
The Zoning Hearing Board shall have jurisdiction over those types of cases assigned to it by the authority of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and those types of cases assigned to it by the authority of Chapter
148, Mobile Home Parks, and Chapter
125, Flood Damage Prevention, of the Code of the Borough of Lewistown.
[Amended 5-13-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-3]
A. Upon the filing of the case papers under §
70-11B, the Administrative Secretary to the Zoning Hearing Board shall fix a date, time and place for the public hearing to be conducted by the Zoning Hearing Board on the case. The date fixed by the Administrative Secretary for the public hearing may, but need not, be the date of a regular meeting of the Zoning Hearing Board scheduled under §
70-5A. In any event, the date fixed by the Administrative Secretary for the public hearing shall be not more than 60 days and not less than 20 days, after the date on which the case papers in the matter were accepted for filing by the Administrative Secretary under §
70-11B.
B. The Administrative Secretary shall give public notice of the date, time and place fixed under Subsection
A of this section for the Zoning Hearing Board's public hearing on the case and shall include in that notice:
(1) The name of the petitioner;
(2) A citation of the case number assigned to the case;
(3) A statement of the particular nature of the case, including a reference
to the location of the land, building or structure involved in the
case;
(4) A statement of the relief requested or the remedy sought by the petitioner;
and
(5) A reference to the Borough office where the case papers are on file
and where they may be examined during normal business hours.
C. The Administrative Secretary shall ensure that counterparts of the
public notice of the hearing are published and posted and mailed or
delivered as follows:
(1) A counterpart of the notice shall be published in the newspaper once
each week for two consecutive weeks, with intervals of at least five
calendar days between each publication. The first publication shall
appear not more than 30 days and the second publication shall appear
not less than seven days prior to the date of the hearing.
|
Information Note. As used in this Subsection C(1) and in §§ 70-13A and B and 70-14, the term "newspaper" shall mean and include: The Sentinel (a newspaper of general circulation in the Borough of Lewistown) and, because of the additional publication requirement imposed by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Advertising Act [45 Pa.C.S.A. § 308(a)], the Mifflin County Legal Journal. Thus, the notice to be published under this Subsection C(1) is to be published twice in the Mifflin County Legal Journal as well as twice in The Sentinel.
|
(2) Not more than 30 days and not less than 10 days prior to the date
of the hearing, a counterpart of the notice shall be posted in a conspicuous
place in the Lewistown Municipal Building.
(3) Not more than 30 days and not less than 10 days prior to the date
of the hearing, a counterpart of the notice shall be posted in a conspicuous
place on the land involved in the case or on the land on which the
building or structure involved in the case is located.
(4) Not more than 30 days and not less than 10 days prior to the date
of the hearing, a counterpart of the notice shall be mailed by ordinary
mail to the petitioner; the owner of the land, building or structure
involved in the case if the owner is different from the petitioner;
and any person who has made a timely request that notice be specifically
given him.
(5) Not more than 30 days and not less than seven days prior to the date
of the hearing, a counterpart of the notice shall be mailed by ordinary
mail or delivered by hand to: the Building Codes, Property Codes and
Zoning Code Department; the Borough Manager; the Borough Secretary;
the President of Council; and the Chairman of the Planning Commission.
D. In addition to the counterparts of the notice to be given under Subsection
C of this section, counterparts of the notice may be given to such other persons, at such times and in such manner as the Zoning Hearing Board or the Administrative Secretary to the Zoning Hearing Board may deem appropriate under the circumstances of the case before the Board.
Because any meeting of the Zoning Hearing Board to take formal
and final action on a case (whether the meeting is held immediately
following the hearing on the case or at a later date) is subject to
the requirements of the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act, the Administrative Secretary to the Zoning Hearing Board shall give public notice of the date, time and place of the meeting at which the Board plans to take formal and final action on the case and shall include in that notice: a) the name of the petitioner; b) the case number of the case; c) a general statement of the nature of the case; and d) a general statement of the purpose of the meeting. The notice of the meeting of the Zoning Hearing Board to take formal and final action on the case may be given as part of the public notice required to be given under §
70-12 or as part of a public notice required to be given under §
70-13A or
B. However, if the notice of the meeting of the Board to take action on the case is not given as part of the public notice under §
70-12 or as part of a public notice under §
70-13A or
B, then not less than two days prior to the date of the meeting to take action on the case a counterpart of the notice of the meeting to take action on the case shall be published in the newspaper one time; a counterpart posted in the place described in §
70-12C(2); and a counterpart mailed by ordinary mail or delivered by hand to each of the persons referred to in §
70-12C(4) and
(5).
The Zoning Hearing Board shall keep complete and full records
of its activities, hearings, actions and decisions, and these records
shall be public records within the meaning and scope of the Pennsylvania
Open Records Act.