Lotus Land, LLC, v. North Lebanon Township Zoning Hearing Board

Lotus Land, LLC, v. North Lebanon Township Zoning Hearing Board

Civil Action-Property Law-Constitutional Law-Zoning-Ordinance-Violation-Industrial Zoning District-Trailer Storage-Automotive Repair-Outside Enclosed Building-Accessory Use

Lotus Land, LLC, (“Appellant”) is the owner of a property in an Industrial Zoning District in North Lebanon Township.  A trucking company leases the property from Appellant to store trailers.  A noise complaint was lodged by adjacent property owners, which led to issuance of a Zoning Enforcement Notice by the Lebanon County Planning Department on the basis that mechanical and/or autobody work being performed at the property did not meet the permitted use of a storage yard and that the mechanical and/or autobody work was being performed outside of an enclosed building in violation of the applicable Zoning Ordinance.  Appellant filed an appeal with the North Lebanon Township Zoning Hearing Board, which upheld the finding of violation.  Appellant filed an Appeal from the decision of the North Lebanon Township Zoning Hearing Board. 

1.  When reviewing the decision of a zoning hearing board where the trial court does not take any additional evidence, appellate review is limited to determining whether the board committed an abuse of discretion or a legal error. 

2.  Assuming that the record contains substantial evidence, a court is bound by the zoning hearing board’s findings that result from resolutions of credibility and conflicting testimony.

3.  In order to establish a right to an accessory use, the landowner must prove that the use sought is secondary to the principal use and usually is found with that principal use. 

4.  The work performed on the property is more similar to that of an automobile body shop or repair garage, not work associated with storage yard use or accessory thereto, where evidence was presented that repairs described as beating, jackhammering and riveting were being made to trailers from sunrise to sunset six (6) days per week for six (6) months per year.

5.  Even if the maintenance of trailers could be said to an accessory use to that of a storage yard, substantial evidence was presented to support the finding of violation where uncontested evidence was presented that preventative maintenance was being performed upon trailers in an outside environment in violation of the Ordinance requiring that all mechanical work must be performed in an enclosed building. 

L.C.C.C.P. No. 2023-00068, Opinion by Charles T. Jones, Jr., Judge, June 24, 2024.