The Rulers of the Zoning Hearing Board.

The Zoning Hearing Board (ZHB) has plenty of rules to follow, Roberts Rules of Order, the City of Bethlehem Zoning Ordinance, and the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, and whatever their Superhero, ZHB Solicitor Mickey Thompson, decides are the rules of the day.

Zoning regulations are rules that determine how parcels of land may be used or developed. The regulations generally try to minimize incompatibilities within a zoning district.

In the case of the City of Bethlehem it does not matter what the rules are, the ZHB will make whatever rules they want to make. Granted, the ZHB has the authority to use substantial discretion in their decisions.  They do not have the right to exceed their discretion.

But, who decides if they have exceeded their discretion? Well, of course, they do, unless you want to spend tons of your money to appeal their decision.

As they have been overheard to say, "We don't care what the law says, we make the rules." Oh, ya, that's hearsay, but then, this is not court. And I am just telling you what I was told by an attorney who has done much work for the City of Bethlehem Zoning Hearing Board. And I believe this attorney. Why would s/he tell me such a story? Well, I believe I was told such a story to illustrate their level of arrogance.

Here is an example.This case is about a year old now. A property owner/developer comes into the ZHB appealing a decision by the (now retired) Zoning Officer, John Lezoche, who turned down their permit request to build a single family home where stood a six unit garage, with ingress and egress on an alley.  Now, what is the rule? Well, it reads like this:

1302.04 Alley

A public right-of-way having a right-of-way width of twenty (20) feet or less, which affords a secondary means of access to the rear or side of abutting property and is not intended for general traffic circulation.

Regardless of whether an alley is given a street name, no main building shall have its frontage on an alley.

Notice where it says, "...no main building shall have its frontage on an alley." The ZHB ignored this rule. They permitted the developer to build a main building fronting on an alley. And, they gave no public reason for doing so. They just do whatever they feel like doing.

Here is another example, a little more recent. The current Zoning Officer, Christine Bartleson, informed the applicant that they needed to request a Special Exception from the Zoning Hearing Board in order to convert a Church convent into a Temporary Shelter.  What the Zoning Officer also needed to tell the ZHB was that one Temporary Shelter cannot be within 800 feet of another Temporary Shelter. Although the Zoning Officer did not tell the ZHB about this rule (law), an objector, who had done his homework, did! He brought it to the attention of the ZHB.

Here is the rule (law):

1325.08 Special Conditions and Safeguards for Special Exception Uses

In addition to the general requirements and standards specified in Section 1325.07,the following additional conditions and safeguards for certain uses shall apply:

(k) Additional special requirements shall be met for all Residential Treatment Facilities, Temporary Shelters, and Overnight Shelters as follows:

(1) Each residential treatment facility shall meet the following requirement:

( I) No residential treatment facility shall be located within 800 feet of another residential treatment facility. The minimum distance between all such facilities shall be a minimum of 800 feet.

This "Residential Treatment Facility/Temporary Shelter," called, "Mary's Shelter" is less than 500 feet from another "Residential Treatment Facility/Temporary Shelter."

The ZHB knew what the law was; the objector brought it to their attention. But they used their discretion, and overruled the law. Did they exceed their discretion? According to the ZHB, they never exceed their discretion. Only the Court could determine if they had exceeded their discretion, and that is only if the objector appeals the decision.

Time will tell...

And the new draft Zoning Ordinance has made its way past the Planning Commission, onto City Council. It doesn't matter what changes are made to the Zoning Ordinance, the Rulers on the Zoning Hearing Board will make their own rules.