Eves v. Zoning Board of Adjustment of Lower Gwynedd Township

In 1958, Lower Gwynedd Township adopted Ordinance 28, which amended the general zoning ordinance to provide for a new F-1 limited industrial zoning district. The ordinance set forth the requirements, conditions, and restrictive uses for an F-1 classification. The ordinance imposed physical requirements for use of land and reserved the right of the board of supervisors to prescribe particular requirements or reasonable conditions deemed appropriate concerning the suitability of the district in the neighborhood. Ordinance 28 did not delineate boundaries of the areas classified as F-1 districts but permitted anyone to apply to request that their land be rezoned to F-1. Applicants were required to show the nature of the industry they wished to establish and that any proposed construction conformed with the ordinance requirements. Applications required approval from the planning commission and the board of supervisors after a public hearing. Moore Construction Company (Moore) submitted such an application and sought to rezone their land from residential to F-1 to construct an industrial plant and sewage-treatment center. A public hearing on the application was held. A petition signed by 300 property-owning residents who opposed the zoning change was filed. The supervisors nevertheless adopted Ordinance 34, which granted Moore’s application to rezone its land. Township resident Schuyler Eves (plaintiff) appealed to the Zoning Board of Adjustment of Lower Gwynedd Township (defendant) and challenged the validity of Ordinances 28 and 34 on the grounds that they were unconstitutional and did not conform to the enabling legislation. The board dismissed Eves’s appeal, and the district court affirmed. Eves appealed.