PRINTER'S NO. 1510
No. 1205 Session of 2001
INTRODUCED BY CONTI, NOVEMBER 8, 2001
REFERRED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT, NOVEMBER 8, 2001
AN ACT
1 Amending the act of July 31, 1968 (P.L.805, No.247), entitled,
2 as amended, "An act to empower cities of the second class A,
3 and third class, boroughs, incorporated towns, townships of
4 the first and second classes including those within a county
5 of the second class and counties of the second through eighth
6 classes, individually or jointly, to plan their development
7 and to govern the same by zoning, subdivision and land
8 development ordinances, planned residential development and
9 other ordinances, by official maps, by the reservation of
10 certain land for future public purpose and by the acquisition
11 of such land; to promote the conservation of energy through
12 the use of planning practices and to promote the effective
13 utilization of renewable energy sources; providing for the
14 establishment of planning commissions, planning departments,
15 planning committees and zoning hearing boards, authorizing
16 them to charge fees, make inspections and hold public
17 hearings; providing for mediation; providing for transferable
18 development rights; providing for appropriations, appeals to
19 courts and penalties for violations; and repealing acts and
20 parts of acts," further providing for zoning purposes, for
21 classifications and for procedure for landowner curative
22 amendments.
23 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
24 hereby enacts as follows:
25 Section 1. Sections 604 and 605 of the act of July 31, 1968
26 (P.L.805, No.247), known as the Pennsylvania Municipalities
27 Planning Code, reenacted and amended December 21, 1988
1 (P.L.1329, No.170), are amended to read:
2 Section 604. Zoning Purposes.--The provisions of zoning
3 ordinances shall be designed:
4 (1) To promote, protect and facilitate any or all of the
5 following: the public health, safety, morals, and the general
6 welfare; coordinated and practical community development and
7 proper density of population; emergency management
8 preparedness and operations, airports, and national defense
9 facilities, the provisions of adequate light and air, access
10 to incident solar energy, police protection, vehicle parking
11 and loading space, transportation, water, sewerage, schools,
12 recreational facilities, public grounds, the provision of a
13 safe, reliable and adequate water supply for domestic,
14 commercial, agricultural or industrial use, and other public
15 requirements[; as well as preservation of the natural, scenic
16 and historic values in the environment and preservation of
17 forests, wetlands, aquifers and floodplains].
18 (2) To prevent one or more of the following:
19 overcrowding of land, blight, danger and congestion in travel
20 and transportation, loss of health, life or property from
21 fire, flood, panic or other dangers.
22 (3) To preserve forests, prime agriculture and farmland
23 considering topography, soil type and classification, and
24 present use.
25 (4) To provide for the use of land within the
26 municipality for residential housing of various dwelling
27 types encompassing all basic forms of housing, including
28 single-family and two-family dwellings, and a reasonable
29 range of multifamily dwellings in various arrangements,
30 mobile homes and mobile home parks, provided, however, that
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1 no zoning ordinance shall be deemed invalid for the failure
2 to provide for any other specific dwelling type.
3 (5) To accommodate reasonable overall community growth,
4 including population and employment growth, and opportunities
5 for development of a variety of residential dwelling types
6 and nonresidential uses.
7 (6) To provide development zoning districts with the
8 primary purposes being to encourage and accommodate
9 population and employment growth and a reasonable range of
10 housing types and to provide resource protection zoning
11 districts and regulations to preserve and protect natural,
12 scenic, historic and cultural resources, including the
13 preservation of open space and rural landscapes, the
14 preservation of surface and groundwater resources, wetlands,
15 aquifers and flood plains. A zoning ordinance which makes
16 adequate provisions for its fair share of population growth
17 and housing types and for commercial and industrial growth in
18 a development district shall not be deemed invalid because
19 development and uses of the same type and densities are
20 prohibited or limited in other zoning districts.
21 (7) To foster the revitalization of this Commonwealth's
22 cities and older towns and suburbs through joint municipal
23 planning and zoning.
24 Section 605. Classifications.--In any municipality, other
25 than a county, which enacts a zoning ordinance, no part of such
26 municipality shall be left unzoned. The provisions of all zoning
27 ordinances may be classified so that different provisions may be
28 applied to different classes of situations, uses and structures
29 and to such various districts of the municipality as shall be
30 described by a map made part of the zoning ordinance. A zoning
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1 ordinance may establish development zoning districts having as
2 their primary purpose to encourage and accommodate population
3 and employment growth and a reasonable range of housing types
4 and resource protection zoning districts and regulations to
5 preserve and protect natural, scenic, historic and cultural
6 resources, including the preservation of open space and rural
7 landscapes, the preservation of surface and groundwater
8 resources, wetlands, aquifers and flood plains. Where zoning
9 districts are created, all provisions shall be uniform for each
10 class of uses or structures, within each district, except that
11 additional classifications may be made within any district:
12 (1) For the purpose of making transitional provisions at
13 and near the boundaries of districts.
14 (1.1) For the purpose of regulating nonconforming uses
15 and structures.
16 (2) For the regulation, restriction or prohibition of
17 uses and structures at, along or near:
18 (i) major thoroughfares, their intersections and
19 interchanges, transportation arteries and rail or transit
20 terminals;
21 (ii) natural or artificial bodies of water, boat
22 docks and related facilities;
23 (iii) places of relatively steep slope or grade, or
24 other areas of hazardous geological or topographic
25 features;
26 (iv) public buildings and public grounds;
27 (v) aircraft, helicopter, rocket, and spacecraft
28 facilities;
29 (vi) places having unique historical, architectural
30 or patriotic interest or value; or
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1 (vii) flood plain areas, agricultural areas,
2 sanitary landfills, and other places having a special
3 character or use affecting and affected by their
4 surroundings.
5 As among several classes of zoning districts, the provisions
6 for permitted uses may be mutually exclusive, in whole or in
7 part.
8 (3) For the purpose of encouraging innovation and the
9 promotion of flexibility, economy and ingenuity in
10 development, including subdivisions and land developments as
11 defined in this act, and for the purpose of authorizing
12 increases in the permissible density of population or
13 intensity of a particular use based upon expressed standards
14 and criteria set forth in the zoning ordinance.
15 (4) For the purpose of regulating transferable
16 development rights on a voluntary basis.
17 Section 2. Section 609.1 of the act is amended by adding
18 subsections to read:
19 Section 609.1. Procedure for Landowner Curative
20 Amendments.--* * *
21 (b.1) In a substantive validity challenge to a zoning
22 ordinance, where the zoning ordinance represents a balanced
23 effort to achieve the zoning purposes provided in section 604
24 and the challenged provision substantially promotes a valid
25 zoning purpose as set forth in section 604, the zoning ordinance
26 shall be presumed valid.
27 (b.2) Where a challenge to the validity of a zoning
28 ordinance is based on a claim that the ordinance fails to
29 provide for a municipality's fair share of population growth, a
30 reasonable range of housing types or fails to make adequate
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1 provision for commercial and industrial uses, a zoning ordinance
2 is presumed valid if:
3 (1) it was developed by a qualified professional community
4 planner utilizing generally accepted population and housing
5 projections in the region and, when adopted, provided adequate
6 areas to meet the population and housing projections for a ten-
7 year horizon; and
8 (2) the population and housing projections utilized and the
9 areas provided to meet the population and housing projections
10 are consistent with a comparable analysis by a county or
11 regional planning commission encompassing the area where the
12 municipality is located.
13 Where a zoning ordinance provides for projected population and
14 housing growth meeting a ten-year horizon, an ordinance will not
15 be deemed invalid because the area set aside for development was
16 fully developed before the end of that period.
17 (b.3) Where a challenge to the validity of a zoning
18 ordinance is based on a claim that density and lot area
19 requirements are unreasonable and/or confiscatory, a zoning
20 ordinance is presumed valid which provides for transferable
21 development rights and the transferable development rights
22 assigned to the subject property offset any adverse impact of a
23 limitation as to the permitted lot area and/or density of the
24 property.
25 (b.4) A zoning ordinance shall not be deemed invalid or
26 confiscatory for providing reasonable regulations which limit
27 development on land containing natural resources which are
28 protected under section 604(6).
29 * * *
30 Section 3. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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