Sep 12, 2013 2 min read

A California Borough landlord appealed a zoning hearing board decision to Washington County Court, claiming the “zoning officer resorted to Dumpster-diving” in an attempt to establish who was living at 773 High St. in a neighborhood designated as single-family homes.

Walter MacFann of WSM Properties LLC, which has a mailing address of 110 Main St., Daisytown, appealed to the zoning hearing board a notice of enforcement violations because the tenant, who was employed, was also enrolled at California University of Pennsylvania and was therefore “a transient.”

According to the zoning hearing board’s findings of fact, the borough received an anonymous complaint April 2 about three students living in a residential zone.

The zoning officer testified he and the street commissioner visited the property and their investigation including going through the trash that had been set out for pickup. They found school reports, an employment application, other student documents and a prescription bottle bearing the names of three women living there.

“It is apparent that at least two of the residents were students at California University of Pennsylvania during the fall and spring semesters. A neighbor testified that she is “like a second mother” to the women, with whom she speaks and watches out for.

The zoning hearing board determined the women were not related by blood, marriage or adoption and are in direct contradiction of a borough ordinance that defines a family.

MacFann’s appeal also said, “The finding that three unrelated individuals are not permitted to live in one structure is not supported by the case law of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”