Legislation that would give municipalities more power to fight development and take the sting out of curative amendments filed by builders will be introduced by state Rep. Steve Santarsiero, D-31, Monday.
Petitions for curative amendments are filed by developers when they claim a municipality does not have land zoned for a certain kind of housing, said Buckingham Supervisor Henry Rowan, who spoke with Santarsiero during a press conference Thursday at the Lower Makefield township building.
"A developer will claim a town doesn't have land zoned for mobile homes, to give an example," said Rowan. "An agreement is then reached with the town to instead build 500 single-family homes instead of mobile homes and officials will say, 'whew, we dodged that bullet,' but what the developer wanted in the first place was the 500 single-family homes."
Developers have used curative amendments to "hammer municipalities into submission," Rowan said.
"The threat becomes as powerful as the cure itself," he said. "Towns will often spend a minimum of $250,000 in legal fees fighting a claim for a curative amendment."
"That's an entire year's legal budget for a lot of towns," Santarsiero added.
His bill would give municipalities more power to deny projects proposed by developers after they have filed for curative amendments. It has four major components.
First, a municipality could deny a project if all the required infrastructure like roads, storm water controls, schools, emergency services and recreation is not in place. Also, the bill would ensure that all challenges submitted to a municipal governing body or zoning board describe and quantify the need for a particular kind of housing identified in the petition for a curative amendment.
The bill would make a developer show the proposed project would be able to be constructed under the natural resource protections in place, and would also prohibit a municipality from entering into agreements or settlements that allow for projects substantially different from the granted curative challenge.
Rowan and Santarsiero said the bill would not eliminate curative amendments but should turn them into less of a weapon for developers to pursue a roundabout route toward what they really want.
"It's really intended to give municipalities another tool to manage, not prohibit growth," Santarsiero said. "It should really give towns more of an ability to foster smart growth."
Rowan said Pennsylvania is the only state in the country with curative amendments and their threat has become a particular problem in the heavily developed Southeastern part of the state.
"There is no reason on earth any Southeastern Pennsylvania legislator would even consider opposing this bill," he said.
Santarsiero will introduce the bill on the floor of the House on Monday and he then would expect it to be assigned to the Local Government Committee. He hopes to get the bill into the full House for a vote by the end of summer. . . .
June 19, 2009
Cure for curative amendments
PhillyBurbs.com: "Bill would strengthen townships against developers," by Chris English, Intelligencer, June 19, 2009: