Land Use & Zoning Archives

A business owner recently sued the City of Camden, its zoning officer and the Zoning Board of Adjustments after having his application to use his buildings for the production of medical marijuana. The buildings, which are reportedly vacant, are located near Campbell Soup Co. headquarters and the Cooper University Hospital in Camden. One of the buildings, a vacant Sears store, was recently sold.

On Tuesday, a zoning variance which would have permitted the building of a day reporting center for ex-offenders in Southwest Philadelphia was recently overturned by a Common Pleas Court judge. The center was to be part of a wider plan on the part of the Nutter administration to reduce the prison population and make services available to those convicted of nonviolent crime. The plan was to have 10 day reporting centers around the city which would offer job training, drug testing, counseling, and temporary housing.

Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon announced last month that the financially strapped energy company plans to pick itself back up by drilling more wells on Marcellus Shale real estate. According to McClendon, the center of the activity would be the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania, as well as regions in Ohio and West Virginia where wells can extract liquid gases like ethane and propane, which are worth higher prices nowadays.

In our previous post, we mentioned that Chesapeake Energy Company will soon be pursuing a new policy of increased natural gas drilling on Marcellus Shale real estate. The Marcellus shale, as our readers may know, is the largest of several shale formations that have become sites for oil and gas production in recent years following upon advanced techniques in hydraulic-fracturing.

After finding that a communications company installed on the front of their lawns the beginnings of what will become cell phone poles, a handful of residents in Bucks County are reportedly warning other homeowners around the Philadelphia area and across the state that they may be next. According to sources, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved the installation of 12 metal poles on the properties. The company installing the poles gained the rights to do so from the Public Utility Commission back in 2008.

Our Philadelphia readers may be aware of the advances in zoning and development in Philadelphia over the past 10 years.

Last week, a dispute between Philadelphia Councilwoman Maria Quinones-Sanchez and the Norris Square Civic Association reportedly arose when Quinones-Sanchez introduced a measure that would permit only single-family housing to be built in one section of the Norris Squire neighborhood.

When a developer undertakes a project, there are often a number of obstacles. In their work, developers work with various parties to see a project through, including architects, city planners, engineers, surveyors, contractors, inspectors and leasing agents. Any number of roadblocks can be thrown up along the way.

Last Thursday, seven Pennsylvania municipalities filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania over the new natural gas law, which effectively removed the ability of city governments to regulate natural gas drilling. The lawsuit alleges that the state unconstitutionally removed the power of towns and landowners to control zoning to suit the need of the oil and gas industry.

In our previous post, we noted that seven municipalities have filed suit against the state of Pennsylvania over a law passed earlier this year which grants drilling companies broad ability to continue with drilling activities. The law, as we said, has been somewhat polarizing between those who say it is necessary to support the growing drilling industry and those who decry the removal of municipalities’ ability to place restrictions on drilling activity.