Good News! The judge’s first ruling was in our favor!
After waiting since November the Judge finally issued his first decision and it was in our favor! This decision was on the Developer's motion to exclude North Whitehall Township from appealing the Developer’s claim of Deemed Approval. The best news, however, is contained in the footnote of the decision in which the Judge explained how he reached his decision. Firstly, the logic and wording used strongly indicates that given the set of facts and case law presented to date that we will most likely win the bigger issue of Deemed Approval. Secondly, the Judge validated the Township’s position that the Developer must FIRST obtain a separate Conditional Approval specifically for the Waste Treatment System prior to applying for the Conditional Approval to build the overall development.
In the finding, the Judge found that the Township acted properly and in accordance with the state municipal codes in determining that the Conditional Approval application was incomplete and returning it with the application fee. In fact, the Judge quoted a previous court ruling that the Townships' have an obligation to quickly determine the merits of applications and refuse applications that are “…so incomplete that ordinance compliance cannot be determined.” He then concluded that:
“Here, it appears the Developer’s application was never accepted or retained. It cannot be said NWT (North Whitehall Township) took any position on the substance of the application, either affirmatively or by operation of law, except to reject it as an incomplete application. Accordingly, NWT is not precluded from challenging what the Developer contends is “deemed approval.”
From how I read this statement, unless the Developer can find a way to challenge the Township's rejection of the original application then the same argument can be used by the Township and our group to fight the overall question of deemed approval at the court hearing when scheduled.
So what do we need next? Our lawyers are developing a strategy to present our case at the deemed approval hearing with the considerations of accurately presenting our case, but keeping costs to a minimum. I have discussed one approach with them, but want to keep our strategy out of print. The key here is that we still need money to pay for the work completed to date, and the work yet to be completed. At this time, we still owe the lawyers $2215.07 and will require additional funds for the work yet to be done. We desperately need funds promised to us to drive this to a conclusion. Some of us promised a specific amount to fund this legal fight. We counted on those pledges before obtaining additional legal help. I can understand that times may be tight but this is so important for the neighborhood that we are asking you to contribute whatever you can. So PLEASE, PLEASE this is the time to provide a contribution to drive this success!
I am also working with the Board and the legal team on what is the following step. According to the Township’s letter of rejection for the developer’s last submital they will need to obtain Township Conditional Approval of the sewer system. The Township has firmly stated that it must be a full treatment system operated by a Municipal Authority. This will be a heavy threshold for the developer to overcome and will either kill the development or will at least make them overcome our biggest objection.
