Supervisor votes against paying for zoning attorney

 

By Amanda Cregan, Intelligencer, February 20, 2009

Al Santopietro said he couldn't support paying for the zoning hearing board attorney's fees.

There was no mention of the gas drilling decision at Nockamixon supervisors meeting Wednesday night, but the shockwaves were evident.

A typically mundane vote to pay the monthly bills was met with resistance from Supervisor Al Santopietro. He objected to paying for zoning hearing board Solicitor Peter Harrison's bill for services.

"I'm OK with the bills, except the Peter Harrison bill. I won't vote for that," said Santopietro.

On Feb. 10, members of the township's zoning hearing board sided with gas drilling company Arbor Resources, which asked for the right to drill for natural gas in the township.

Zoning hearing boards operate as quasi-judicial boards and are not under the authority of municipal supervisors. The board's bills, however, are paid by the township.

If supervisors disagree with a decision of their municipality's zoning board, they have the option to challenge the decision in county court, a step township supervisors have vowed to do in this case.

Santopietro said Thursday that taxpayers should not have to pay for the zoning hearing board's attorney fees, because the township's attorney was not given an opportunity to properly present his case.

At the first hearing in November, township attorney Jordan Yeager sought to discuss the case as it applied to each property while Arbor attorneys argued that specific properties didn't need to be discussed because the state's oil and gas act trumped local ordinances applying to all parcels. Yeager would not comment Thursday.

"We have no say over the solicitor that the zoning hearing board chooses, but the taxpayers pay for it," Santopietro said. "And we sent our solicitor to make a case and for some reason, I'm kind of guessing, that Peter Harrison did not allow our attorney to state his case."

Santopietro said that, although supervisors were not allowed to discuss the case with the zoning hearing board, he doubted that Harrison had advised the board on the ongoing Oakmont gas drilling case before the state Supreme Court.

Oakmont Borough in Alleghany County was sued four years ago for refusing to grant a permit to a gas drilling company to drill for natural gas in a residential neighborhood.

The justices' ruling has the potential to set a precedent on whether local municipalities have the authority over the state to restrict where gas drilling can occur.

"I believe he was knowledgeable about this (Oakmont case) and he should have directed the board to consider this," said Santopietro.

At $130 per hour, Harrison's bill for services totaled $5,783.63.

"I'll vote for the bill list if you take Peter Harrison's bill out," Santopietro told fellow board members Wednesday.

Harrison would not comment Thursday.

Supervisor Chairwoman Nancy Janyszeski and supervisors Henry Gawronski and James Litzenberger voted to pay the bills. Santopietro voted against, and Supervisor Bruce Keyser was absent from the meeting.

"I'll say 'ay' just because I don't want to get sued by anyone else," Janyszeski told board members.

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