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IamSauerKraut t1_j7sgogo wrote

Reply to comment by Pretzelbasket in How do you feel about all the warehouses and other land development? by conifer0

>Very little can be done about it. It's private land, zoned commercial

Maybe stop zoning productive farmland as commercial/light industrial?

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geriatric_tatertot t1_j7u4ibp wrote

The MPC requires municipalities to allow for all types of zoning. So some land somewhere within the muni will have to have this zoning designation. You cannot say no industrial in the township. So if your township is all farmland like many are, some of it will need to be zones industrial.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j7u7g7p wrote

>The MPC requires municipalities to allow for all types of zoning.

The MPC does not require that productive farmland be rezoned to commercial/light industrial. That particular zoning can be placed elsewhere.

True story: I know a guy who owned a small farm on which he had placed a conservation easement. His municipality, without cause, decided to rezone his area from ag to some form of commercial/light industry. He asked them not rezone his land as that type of zoning was inappropriate for his preserved farm and because the municipality already had an area with that zoning designation. The municipality refused his request. At the next meeting, he brought a couple of lawyers. The zoning was not changed.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j7u7l2q wrote

>So if your township is all farmland like many are, some of it will need to be zones industrial.

No township in PA is "all farmland." The MPC does not require farmland to be rezoned.

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geriatric_tatertot t1_j7up3ul wrote

For example, my muni is probably 65-75% farmland and conservation forest, including gamelands, if not more. Residential mostly only along valley floor with about 2,000 total residents. Our multi-family zoned area is all currently developed with single family homes. The one undeveloped parcel is in a flood zone (deliberate). The only “developable” land for industrial is currently a turkey farm. The other two areas are currently in use as a junk yard and auto repair shop. The only developable land by right in the muni for either residential or industrial is either existing farmland for residential or that turkey farm. I’m in Perry Co. Look at Juniata or other small rural counties municipalities and you’ll see this is more common than not. Its not that it has to be rezoned, its that you cannot exclude any type of zoning from a municipality. So if you were coming up with your zoning when the MPC was created in 1970, you’re going to pick areas away from residents and farms “who would never sell” to give that industrial zoning designation to.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j7uut37 wrote

>The only “developable” land for industrial is currently a turkey farm. The other two areas are currently in use as a junk yard and auto repair shop.

The MPC does not require that the turkey farm be zoned as anything other than its existing use. Nor, for that matter, does the MPC require that any part of the residential area be rezoned into something else. To the extent you continue to suggest that the only option re zoning is to rezone ag or any other zone into something else, I will challenge your reliance on the MPC to force that type of rezoning. Simply is not required in the MPC.

btw - your township could rezone (if not already zoned as such) the junk yard and/or auto repair shop for commercial/light industrial.

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geriatric_tatertot t1_j7wfrvm wrote

Sure. But you cannot exclude a zoning district, so somewhere in the twp has to allow for that zoning. For ex. you cannot say no trailer parks allowed in the township. There has to be some parcel with a zoning designation that allows it. This applies to everywhere except Philly because that is the only 1st class city.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j7wgy5b wrote

There is a difference between allowing and excluding. A muni not having every zoning district under the sun does not mean it has excluded that district, just that it has planned according to current uses and known future plans.

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