Lower Milford Township

Gerryville Materials Inc. lost a petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to overturn the decision of the Lower Milford Township Zoning Board denying their procedural challenge to 9 land use ordinances of the Township. Their initial challenge was based on defects in the procedures that occurred during the enactment of the ordinances dating from 1973 to 2003. There claim was that since there were defects in the procedures the ordinances were never valid. They rely on the decision by the Supreme Court in the Glen-Gery case. The Lower Milford Township Zoning Board denied the petition based on two factors:

1. There were no procedural defects in the enactment of the ordinances in question that rose to the level of constitutional denial of due process.

2. Even if defects did rise to a constitutional denial of due process, the significant reliance on the ordinances was such that the ordinance could not be invalidated.

Subsequently, the decision of the Zoning Board was reaffirmed by the Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County and the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania and most recently by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

The consequence of invalidating the Ordinances would have been that Gerryville Materials would be permitted to use 628 acres of land for a quarry with attendant uses such as a asphalt plant, cement plant, selling and storing stone on the property.The puts to rest the challenge to our ordinances based on this ground.