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Articles by Anna S. Jewart
Court Clarifies Traditional Aggrievement Standing Applies in Challenges to Procedural Validity of Local Ordinances
Anna S. Jewart (L) and Alexander O. Giorgetti (R) of Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir. In Pennsylvania, local governments have the power to take actions and impose regulations which can have a significant impact on the rights of their residents.
Cell Towers Stand or Fall Under the TCA: Commonwealth Court Is Divided After Fall of 'Chevron' Deference
Jennifer Malik, left, and Anna Jewart, right, of Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir. Courtesy photos. For most projects in Pennsylvania, deviation from the requirements of a zoning ordinance requires a variance under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. Section 10101 (MPC). To obtain a variance, an applicant must meet all five criteria articulated in Section 910.2 (a) of the MPC, including the “hardship criterion”—requiring that applicants demonstrate “unique physical ...
Limiting Growth—Can ACRE, and Right-to-Farm Help Protect a New 'Normal' in Agricultural Operations?
Robert Max Junker, left, and Anna Skipper Jewart, right, of Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir. Courtesy photos In general, Pennsylvania municipalities have broad discretion over land-use regulations. Typically, so long as a municipality acts within the parameters of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. Section 10101 et seq. (MPC), it is relatively free to regulate where any given land use can operate within its boundaries.
Commonwealth Court Finds Objectors May Have Standing to Intervene in Appeals of Zoning Enforcement Notices
Click to enter your existing username and password or create a new account. Click to purchase an individual user subscription with your credit card. Expert OpinionLand Use and Planning 6 minute readAugust 25, 2025 at 11:10 AM By Anna S.
Accumulating Accountability: Commonwealth Court Reviews Constitutional Limits on Cumulative Municipal Fines
Pennsylvania municipalities are empowered not only to adopt ordinances and enforce them but to establish fines and penalties for violations of the same. However, municipalities are creatures of statute and authorized only to act within the bounds of the powers granted to them by the General Assembly.
The Devil Is in the Details (and the Deemed Approval Deadlines)
Noted wordsmith Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Michael Musmanno articulated the rationale for the “deemed approval” concept in Pennsylvania land use law noting: “Without this kind of coercive determination, a board could effectively prevent the erection of needed structures through the simple process of luxurious lolling while spiders of inattention spin webs of indifference over pending public problems.” To avoid luxurious lolling by local governments, the Legislature included mandatory...
Public Posting 2.0: High Court Creates Test for When Social Media Posts Are State Action
In August 2023, we discussed the ongoing trend of recent cases to blur the line between public officials’ “public” and “private” digital communications and social media, focusing primarily on two 2023 Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court cases—Penncrest School District v. Cagle and Wyoming Borough v. Boyer. In these cases the courts were called upon to decide when a public official’s own social media posts are “public” and therefore subject to disclosure under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law (RTKL).
Public Advertising Cheat Sheet: A Local Government Guide to Mandatory Advertising and Posting Requirements Original
Last week, thousands of newly elected public officials took office across Pennsylvania and began their duties. Whether beginning a first or fifth term, those in public office must review their obligations regarding open meetings and public engagement. Several statutes in Pennsylvania impose open meeting, public comment, and advertising requirements.
Public Posting: Penncrest, Boyer and the Release of Social Media Under the RTKL
Have Facebook and TikTok become the new forum for conducting political debates by public officials? That’s at least one of the questions faced by the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in two recent decisions, Penncrest School District v. Cagle, 293 A.3d 783 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2023), and Wyoming Borough v. Boyer, No. 715 C.D. 2021 (Pa. Cmwlth. July 27, 2023).
Questions Abound Following Right-to-Know Law Decision Involving Student Records
In December 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its opinion in Central Dauphin School District v. Hawkins, 286 A.3d 726 (Pa. 2022), the latest in a line of cases considering the intersection of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. Section 1232g (FERPA), and the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law, 65 P.S. Sections 67.101-67.3104 (RTKL).
Court: Pending Ordinance Doctrine Does Not Apply to Land Development Applications
Enacting and amending zoning regulations is a time-consuming matter. In fact, months often pass from the inception of an idea to the implementation of a zoning scheme and its actual effective date. This is due in large part to the stringent adoption requirements set forth by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code, 53 P.S. Section 10101 et seq. (MPC).
Who Knows? Timeliness of Objector Appeals of Zoning Permit Approvals
While property rights are often viewed as inherently private, both law and society recognize that there is also a public nature to the use of land. To this end, the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (MPC) establishes requirements mandating public notice of and allowing for public participation in the land use decision-making process.
Court Continues to Reject Validity Challenges to Oil and Gas Development
In 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court rendered its ground-breaking decision in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth, (Robinson II), in which a three-justice plurality relied on the Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment, Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution (ERA) to invalidate certain provisions of Act 13 (the General Assembly’s 2012 comprehensive update to the former Oil and Gas Act) limiting the authority of local governments to regulate oil and gas development.
Court: Findings of Fact Failed in Experts' Battle Over Wind Turbine Noise
In recent years, public support for renewable energy generation has increased across the United States. According to a recent article published by the National Agricultural Law Center, 89% of Americans support expanding solar power generation and 83% support wind power expansion. See, Peggy Kirk Hall, Whitney Morgan and Jesse Richardson, “Land Use Conflicts Between Wind and Solar Renewable Energy and Agricultural Uses,” Nat’l Ag. Law Center (Jan. 10, 2022).
Court: No Property-Specific Eminent Domain Power Is Necessary to Implicate Inverse Condemnation
Under the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions, private property may not be taken for public use without payment of just compensation to the owners, see U.S. Const. amend. V; Pa. Const., art. I Section 10.
Court Addresses Limitations on Approval of Planned Residential Developments
The requirements of a municipal zoning ordinance are strictly applied, and landowners must comply with the express use and dimensional limitations applicable in the zoning districts in which their properties are located. Landowners wishing to stray from the regulations of that district are usually forced to request relief in the form of a variance, the standards for the granting of which are quite rigorous.
New Legislation Providing for Deployment of Small Cell Wireless Facilities
On June 30, Gov. Tom Wolf signed Pennsylvania House Bill 1621, the Small Wireless Facilities Deployment Act as Act 50 of 2021 (Act 50), into law. This act reflects years of negotiations between industry groups and municipalities over the balance of local land use authority and ease of deployment in small cell infrastructure deployment. Effective Aug. 29, the act standardizes the local permitting process for small cell facilities located within municipal rights-of-way.
LGBTQ Rights a Year After 'Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia'
At Mazzoni Center, we provide a continuum of health, wellness, and legal services for clients who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ). In recent decades, legal recognition of the rights of LGBTQ people has changed dramatically. And this past year included one of those landmark decisions that will continue to bring about significant changes for the foreseeable future.
Commonwealth Court Considers Municipal Boundary Disputes
This past May, a curio story made international news when a Belgian farmer moved a stone monument on his property by approximately 7.2 feet. While this typically would have remained unknown, except to the farmer and perhaps to his neighbor, the farmer did not consider that the stone had been placed in 1819 to mark his home country’s border with France, and moving it resulted in an approximate 3,000-square-foot loss of territory for the French.
Federal Court: Yes. Your Employer Can Force You to Get the COVID Vaccine
As businesses continue to reopen and we prepare for a post-pandemic world, the interminable question confronting employers is whether they can mandate that employees receive a COVID-19 vaccine in order to work. In some ways, the premise seems completely antithetical to what we know about employment law. There are very few instances where an employer can outright demand that an employee submit to an invasive medical procedure.
Commonwealth Court Holds Township Need Not Vacate the Road Less Traveled
Commentary Recently, the Commonwealth Court, in In Re Vacating of Old Route 322, No. 384 C.D. 2020 (Pa. Cmwlth. Mar. 3, 2021), considered what happens when adjacent landowners allege a public roadway has become so “useless, inconvenient or burdensome,” that the municipality is required to vacate it under the General Road Law. Anna S. Jewart and Blaine Lucas, Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir (Photo: Courtesy Photo) Want to continue reading? Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Court: Township Has No Standing to Enforce Neighbor’s Conservation Easement
Commentary Zoning regulations, although important, are not the sole restrictions on land use. Property owners and a variety of entities may agree to impose additional private restrictions on specific pieces of land. Want to continue reading? Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
RLUIPA’s Land Use Provisions Remain Essential Against Religious Discrimination
Anna S. Jewart, left, and Krista-Ann M. Staley, right, of Babst, Calland, Clements & Zomnir. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. Sections 2000cc et seq, a federal statute that protects the rights of individuals and institutions to use land for religious purposes, in addition to protecting the rights of persons confined to institutions to exercise their faiths.
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