The Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code requires each municipality to have a Zoning Hearing Board to conduct hearings for appeals of the Zoning Officer’s decisions and requests for variances.
The Greenfield Township Zoning Hearing Board consists of three members of the community. They meet when necessary and have the guidance of an Attorney experienced in Zoning Law.
The majority of hearings are for a variance to the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance. The applicant must prove certain hardship conditions exist in order to be granted a variance. Briefly, there are unique characteristics of the property that make it hard to meet the regulations, there is no other way to develop the property as intended, the current property owner did not create the hardship conditions, the variance would not affect the character of the neighborhood, and the variance to the regulations will be minimal.
The Pennsylvania Municipal Planning Code requires that a Public Hearing be held and that a court stenographer is present to record the hearing. The current Zoning Hearing Board fee is set at $ 300.00 plus one half of the court reporter fees.