Appeal of E and G Auto Parts
| Decision Date | 04 December 1975 |
| Parties | Appeal of E & G AUTO PARTS from order of the St. Marys Borough Zoning Hearing Board (two cases). Appeal of The BOROUGH OF ST. MARYS (two cases). |
| Court | Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court |
Gordon J. Daghir, St. Marys, for appellant.
Norbert J. Pontzer, Ridgeway, for appellee.
Before BOWMAN, President Judge, and CRUMLISH, Jr., KRAMER, WILKINSON, MENCER, ROGERS and BLATT, JJ.
To avoid the necessity for a long recital of the procedural steps that were taken in this relatively simple zoning appeal requiring three opinions of the court below, we will pose the controlling legal question as it was presented by appellant in its brief:
'Can a non-conforming use expand and extend onto adjoining land (1) that was not used for such non-conforming use at the time of the applicable zoning ordinance involved; and (2) was acquired, by option only, subsequent to the adoption of the ordinance, when a portion of that land to be expanded upon was also a non-conforming use, but of a different nature, at the time of the adoption of the ordinance?' 1
The lower court answered this question in the affirmative. We must affirm.
It is clear that on the adjoining lots here involved, nonconforming uses have been conducted for a number of years--one as a bakery and antique shop, and the other as a wholesale-retail outlet for auto parts. Recently, perhaps six years ago, appellee leased what had originally been a bakery and what was then an antique shop and has been using it as a facility in its wholesale-retail auto parts business. Appellee obtained an option on the bakery-antique shop lot and has applied for a building permit to enlarge the building on its own lot to increase its facility for storing auto parts, to demolish the bakery-antique shop, and to place a parking area to accommodate six vehicles on the lot formerly occupied by the bakery-antique shop.
It might greatly simplify the question to point out that it seems clear that had the lots remained in separate ownership and had appellee applied merely to enlarge its building on its original lot, and had the owner of the bakery-antique shop lot applied to demolish it and place a parking area thereon, each would have been clearly entitled to the building permit. Appellee would have been entitled to enlarge its building because it is a normal expansion of a nonconforming use, and the owner of the bakery-antique shop lot would have been entitled to a permit, being in compliance with the express provision of Section 1008--5 of the zoning ordinance in that it would be changing from an existing nonconforming use to a higher or equal use. The lower court so found after taking testimony and its findings are binding on this Court when supported by proper evidence as they are...
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Keith v. Saco River Corridor Com'n
...is "grandfathered" and not the owner. Stewart v. Inhabitants of Town of Durham, 451 A.2d 308, 310 (Me.1982); Appeal of E & G Auto Parts, 22 Pa.Cmwlth. 171, 348 A.2d 438, 440 (1975); State ex rel. Keeven v. City of Hazelwood, 585 S.W.2d 557 (Mo.App.1979). Once a nonconforming use or building......
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Fayette County v. Cossell
... ... Mr. Rose's use of the property established a ... nonconforming use in the nature of an auto junkyard which the ... Cossells had a right to continue ... The Fayette ... County ... Kreitz Corp., 404 Pa. 406, ... 172 A.2d 320 (1961). See also In Re E & G Auto ... Parts, 22 Pa.Cmwlth. 171, 348 A.2d 438 (1975) ... Because the ... zoning ordinance here ... ...
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Fayette County v. Cossell
...land is not confined to any one individual. Eitnier v. Kreitz Corp., 404 Pa. 406, 172 A.2d 320 (1961). See also In Re E & G Auto Parts, 22 Pa.Cmwlth. 171, 348 A.2d 438 (1975). Because the zoning ordinance here involved does not provide any administrative means by which the validity of the b......