On March 2, the Commonwealth Court rendered a decision in Embreeville Redevelopment v. Board. of Supervisors of West Bradford Township, 134 A.3d 1122 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2016), which clarified when a zoning ordinance amendment, although solely textual on its face, constitutes a zoning map change and triggers the additional notice requirements under Section 609(b) of the Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. Section 10609(b).
The Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. Section 10101 et seq., (MPC), which establishes the framework for zoning and land use regulation in Pennsylvania, sets forth the detailed procedure a municipality must follow when adopting or amending a zoning ordinance. In pertinent part, a municipality intending to amend its zoning ordinance, regardless of whether the proposed amendment is a text amendment or a zoning map change, must: transmit a copy of the proposed amendment to the county planning agency (if one has been created) for review and comment; transmit a copy of the proposed amendment to the municipality’s planning commission for review and comment (if the planning commission did not prepare the amendment); hold a public hearing on the proposed amendment; and publish notice of the public hearing on the proposed amendment twice, in two successive weeks, in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality no more than 30 and no less than seven days before the public hearing, (see MPC Sections 304(a)(3) and 609; 53 P.S. Sections 304(a)(3) and 609). In addition to the foregoing requirements, if a proposed amendment involves a zoning map change, Section 609(b) of the MPC requires that a municipality also conspicuously post notice of the public hearing on the properties affected by the proposed map change; and mail notice of the public hearing to the owners of property affected by the proposed map change. The MPC does not define what constitutes a “zoning map change.”
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