Sep 5, 2017 4 min read

Donegal Township officials, who in August adopted a zoning ordinance, and those who oppose it will square off in Washington County Court next month.

Judge Damon Faldowski heard briefly from both sides Tuesday morning when Christopher Furman, attorney for a group known as Donegal Freedom Group, requested an injunction that would keep the ordinance from taking effect.

Faldowski scheduled a hearing for 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25.

Furman told the judge, “Our position is that when the planning commission held their vote on May 23, they did not have the text or map of the proposed zoning ordinance before them. They did not complete their work. What was sent to the supervisors was incomplete.”

He said a planning commission member was prepared to testify Tuesday.

Furman is seeking to have the judge declare the zoning ordinance and map null and void.

Michael Cruny, township solicitor, said Furman’s assertions were “not correct.” The township also maintains the Freedom group is not demonstrating “immediate and irreparable harm,” the crucial element governing law related to injunctions.

“I can address the issue of immediate and irreparable harm,” said Furman, without offering specifics. More than a dozen people gathered in the courtroom for Tuesday’s proceeding, and as soon as Faldowski set the hearing date, the attorneys went to the prothonotary’s office to file documents related to the case, which names Kathleen Wright-Croft and Tammi Iams as trustees for Donegal Freedom Group.

“I don’t usually comment on pending cases,” Furman said earlier after exiting the courtroom.

Tuesday’s court challenge is the latest litigation in a longstanding dispute.

“It’s hard to regulate oil and gas, to determine where certain land uses go, without zoning,” Cruny said. “If you look at recent Supreme Court cases and Commonwealth Court cases, there’s a duty upon the township to protect the resources, to protect the health and safety of the residents, and one of the ways to do that is by zoning, at least according to the municipality’s planning code. Without zoning, it limits where you can regulate and how much you can regulate. That’s one reason why the supervisors decided to start this process back in 2015.”

The Donegal Freedom Group also claims the township did not follow proper procedures and advertising requirements in adopting the zoning ordinance Aug. 9.

The Freedom adherents claim the supervisors “were working with great haste because they know they will not have the votes to pass zoning after the election in November, therefore in order to pass legislation against the express will of the taxpayers of Donegal Township, the supervisors must bypass due process to ram a zoning ordinance through a vote before their terms expire.” Their document calls the supervisors’ actions in connection with the zoning ordinance “illegal.”

“Despite the plaintiffs’ claims, at no time was the township found to have acted improperly,” Cruny asserted in his written response filed with the court. “The township agreed to both stipulation orders (last year) in an effort to continue its governmental duties, save unnecessary legal expenses and avoid plaintiffs’ attempts to further delay the matter. The plaintiff has already conducted a substantial amount of discovery through its double-digit right-to-know requests.”

Cruny listed several public meetings of the planning commission held in January through May of this year, when a majority of the planning commission members voted to recommend a draft of the ordinance to the supervisors.

“The ultimate draft contained most if not all of the public’s recommendations and requests,” Cruny wrote in the township’s filing. “The plaintiffs’ complaint is a political tactic to interfere with local government.”

Cruny asked the judge to dismiss the injunction request. He also claims Donegal Freedom Group is not an “aggrieved party” and therefore does not have legal standing to bring its case to court.

A referendum in November of last year increased the number of seats on the board of supervisors to five from the current three, and all of those who were nominated in the May 16 primary have spoken out against zoning in Donegal. It is believed to be the last municipality in Washington County to enact zoning. The four elected this November will comprise a five-member board with Douglas Teagarden as the sole holdover. Currently serving with him are Chairman David W. Ealy and Zachary T. Prescott.

“Because of the clean sweep in the recent primary election by candidates running on an anti-zoning platform, the supervisors know the voting public overwhelmingly does not want zoning and in an attempt to force their will on the landowners of Donegal Township, they had to act quickly.”

The township asked the court to dismiss the allegation, labeling it “scandalous and impertinent.”

Cruny was not aware of any zoning-related applications pending before the township.