A trial court must have a sufficiently developed record in order to determine that a party has acted in bad faith in a dispute over a land development plan, the Commonwealth Court has ruled.

A unanimous three-judge panel issued an unreported opinion June 13 in Hillandale Gettysburg v. Board of Supervisors of Codorus Township that vacated a lower court's ruling in the absence of a record needed to settle the issue of bad faith. The case stemmed from Hillandale's plan for the construction of a poultry processing facility that was denied by Codorus Township in York County, and the trial court's finding of bad faith on the part of the township.

“In the absence of a record, it is not possible to determine the past practices of the parties and, specifically, whether the township's failure to act in concert with same evidences bad faith,” Judge Joseph M. Cosgrove wrote for the court, remanding the matter for further development of the record.