Description of requirements for this board

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Membership: Is composed of 3 members all of which shall be residents of the Township appointed by the Board of Commissioners as provided by law. An officer or employee of the Township may not be a member of the Zoning Hearing Board.

Term of Office: 3 years or until his successor is appointed and qualified.

Meeting Time and Place: The meeting dates vary but are typically held on Thursday evenings each month at 7:15 PM in the Board Room, Township Administration Building.

Department Liaison: Director of Building and Planning & Township Zoning Officer

Duties and Responsibilities:

The zoning hearing board shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and render final adjudications in the following matters:

1. Substantive challenges to the validity of any land use ordinance.
2. Challenges to the validity of a land use ordinance raising procedural questions or alleged defects in the process of enactment or adoption.
3. Appeals from the determination of the zoning officer, including, but not limited to, the granting or denial of any permit, or failure to act on the application, the issuance of any cease and desist order or the registration or refusal to register any nonconforming use, structure or lot.
4. Appeals from a determination by a municipal engineer or the zoning officer with reference to the administration of any flood plain within a land use ordinance.
5. Applications for variances from the terms of the zoning ordinance.
6. Applications for special exceptions under the zoning ordinance.

Established by: First Class Township Code – Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code Article IX
Code of the Township of Lower Merion Section 155 – Zoning adopted March 16, 1927

Upcoming Meeting Dates

The Zoning Hearing Board Meeting dates for the upcoming year. All meetings are on Thursday evenings at 7:15 PM at the Township Administration Building at 75 E Lancaster Ave, Ardmore, unless otherwise noted.

Rules of Appeals to the Zoning Hearing Board (PDF)

For more information contact Scott Houchins, Zoning Officer at 610-645-6172 or email shouchins@lowermerion.org.

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