Any recourse against township?

[shecky]

What is the name of your state? PA

Hi,

We have a situation where a business in our neighborhood has become a big factor in devaluing our property and quility of life. It appears the township supervisors have known this business was operating as a use not allowwed by the village center zoning district of the neighborhood for many years and never acted to stop it. (Contractors storage and offices as well as tool repair) were uses not allowed. The business was in operation on a very small scale when we bought our home 17 years ago. It has since grown about 800% from what is was then. Until recently we figured the business must have had some variance or conditional use permits to operate. It turns out upon investigation that it does not. The township solicitor and zoning officer met privatly with us recently. The solicitor said the board of supervisors do not want to shut him down. He mentioned him having vested rights. Not only that, but they have no township ordinances to limit the number of employees, vehicles, or equipment he owns. Or the hours that are worked. As long as he does not add on to the existing buildings or build new ones, they won't do anything. The business had a cease and desist issued to it back in 1993 and was told not to continue operating until a site plan was approved by the Planning Board and possibly the Zoning Hearing Board. There is no record this was ever done. The solicitor says since it was never enforced someone must have told the zoning officer he was o.k. There is nothing on record saying it was ever deemed to be o.k. We are told we can appeal to the Zoning Hearing Board. I'm not sure what the possibilities would be as far as an outcome from doing that. They probably also take direction from the solicitor. Do we have any real recourse against the township in a situation like this? It doesn't right our neighborhood should be screwed forever because the township let this business operate illegally.

Thank you.

[seniorjudge]

Originally Posted by shecky

What is the name of your state? PA

Hi,

We have a situation where a business in our neighborhood has become a big factor in devaluing our property and quility of life. It appears the township supervisors have known this business was operating as a use not allowwed by the village center zoning district of the neighborhood for many years and never acted to stop it. (Contractors storage and offices as well as tool repair) were uses not allowed. The business was in operation on a very small scale when we bought our home 17 years ago. It has since grown about 800% from what is was then. Until recently we figured the business must have had some variance or conditional use permits to operate. It turns out upon investigation that it does not. The township solicitor and zoning officer met privatly with us recently. The solicitor said the board of supervisors do not want to shut him down. He mentioned him having vested rights. Not only that, but they have no township ordinances to limit the number of employees, vehicles, or equipment he owns. Or the hours that are worked. As long as he does not add on to the existing buildings or build new ones, they won't do anything. The business had a cease and desist issued to it back in 1993 and was told not to continue operating until a site plan was approved by the Planning Board and possibly the Zoning Hearing Board. There is no record this was ever done. The solicitor says since it was never enforced someone must have told the zoning officer he was o.k. There is nothing on record saying it was ever deemed to be o.k. We are told we can appeal to the Zoning Hearing Board. I'm not sure what the possibilities would be as far as an outcome from doing that. They probably also take direction from the solicitor. Do we have any real recourse against the township in a situation like this? It doesn't right our neighborhood should be screwed forever because the township let this business operate illegally.

Thank you.

Discussed at great length here:

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