The Schuylkill County Zoning Hearing Board will hear Natural Soil Products’ appeal of a County zoning enforcement order tonight.
The hearing – which is open to the public – begins at 6 p.m. Nov. 10 in Courtroom 7 of the Schuylkill County Courthouse, 401 N. Second St., Pottsville.
The public enters through the Public Entrance at the back of the courthouse. Sheriff’s deputies will be stationed inside, and everyone has to pass through a metal detector. Courtroom 7 is on the second floor, which is two flights of stairs up from the Public Entrance because the entrance is on the ground floor. An elevator is available.
The board normally meets in the Commissioners’ Board Room. The hearing was moved to Courtroom 7, which is much larger, because a big crowd is expected.
If you plan to be there, don’t expect a typical public meeting, like one of a borough council, board of township supervisors, or school board. A zoning hearing works more like a court proceeding than those meetings. Witnesses testify under oath, attorneys question them, and a stenographer takes down every word. Many people coming tonight have likely never been to one, so here’s how it works and what you can and can’t do.
Jonathan Biros chairs the five-member board, which also includes Frank Zangari, Anthony Prudenti, David Ambrose, and Mary Jo Moss. As chair, Biros opens the hearing and explains the procedures, according to the County. Attorney Shane Hobbs is the board’s solicitor. He advises the board on the law.
The most important thing to understand is the board’s role. When it hears an appeal, it acts like a judge settling a dispute between two sides, not like an elected board setting policy. Its decision has to rest on the testimony, evidence, and law presented at the hearing.
Hearings like this follow a set order. In an appeal of an enforcement notice, state law requires the municipality that issued it, in this case the County, to present its evidence first. Natural Soil Products (NSP) then presents its case.
NSP is also asking, in the alternative, for a special exception to keep operating its biosolids facility under the commercial composting provisions of the Schuylkill County Zoning Ordinance. The company also claims vested rights and approval by equitable estoppel, according to the County’s hearing notice. In general terms, both are legal arguments that a property owner who invested in good faith, while the government knew about the use and didn’t object, should be allowed to continue it.
Each side’s attorney calls witnesses and questions them. The other side can cross-examine, and board members can ask questions of their own. Documents, permits, maps, and photos may be entered as exhibits.
Unlike at a council or supervisors meeting, there’s generally no open public comment period. Members of the public can testify tonight only if they have legal standing or the board recognizes them, and Hobbs says that means joining as a party to the case.
Standing generally means a person has a sufficient connection to the matter or may be directly affected by it, according to the County. Simply attending the hearing or having an interest in the outcome doesn’t automatically give someone standing. The board, often with advice from its solicitor, decides.
Those wishing to join as a party will need to be sworn in on the record by the court stenographer and give their name, address, and the nature of their testimony. Each side in the case will have a chance to object to someone joining as a party, according to Hobbs. Parties can question witnesses, and some have been represented by attorneys at past hearings.
The Zoning Hearing Board’s job tonight is to decide whether the County’s enforcement notice stands and, if not, whether to grant NSP the special exception it’s asking for in the alternative. It isn’t deciding whether DEP should renew NSP’s state permit or grant it a modification of its existing permit. Those are separate matters.
At previous Zoning Hearing Board meetings, those in attendance have been admonished for applauding, cheering, booing, or jeering. Keep your phone on silent. Unlike in a court proceeding, you can take photos.
The board may decide tonight or issue its decision at a later date, and previous hearings have been continued. The Zoning Hearing Board has 45 days from the close of the proceeding to render a final written decision. The decision of the Zoning Hearing Board can be appealed within 30 days to the Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas.
Details on Tonight’s Hearing
On Aug. 19, the County’s Planning and Zoning Office sent NSP an enforcement notice saying it’s in violation of the Schuylkill County Zoning Ordinance.
The County says the only zoning permit on file for the site, issued in 1992, covers a leaf and yard waste composting facility, not biosolids processing. It also identified four buildings it says were put up without zoning permits. The notice ordered NSP to apply for zoning permits after the fact, with violations carrying fines of up to $500 a day.
NSP appealed. In its filing, the company says the County has known about the operation since 1997, was notified every time NSP applied for state permits, and never asked for a zoning permit. It says it invested heavily in the site relying on that.
As a backup, NSP is asking the board for a special exception. It argues its work falls under commercial composting, which is allowed in the zoning districts where its parcels sit.
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