This case involved the appeal of the decision of the Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment’s (ZBA) decision to grant a variance. The dispute concerned a project to develop a property, which had been abandoned for decades, in a manner that would include a multi-family residential use. The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded. The Court held that the ZBA did not err in its determinations with regard to Applicant’s demonstration of unnecessary hardship, and that Applicant requested the minimum necessary variance to afford it relief. However, the Court vacated “the trial court’s order to the extent that Applicant failed to establish that it was entitled to a variance absent payment of the taxes due on the subject property.”
