A person who inherits property that does not conform to local zoning is not entitled to relief if the nonconforming lot was created by the inheritance, a state appeals court ruled today.
The court held that Janice Egeland, a Pennsylvania resident, is not entitled to what is known as a "hardship variance" that would allow her to build a house because the undersized lot was created by her mother's will. The three appeals court judges concluded the variance was properly denied by the local zoning board because any hardship was "self-created."
The text of the court ruling is available.
Egeland's 1.65-acre lot in Colts Neck was once part of a larger property with a house owned by parents. Her mother became sole owner of the property when Egeland's father died, but when her mother died in 2004, her will stipulated that the property be subdivided into two smaller lots, one with the house that conformed to local zoning and the 1.65-acre that did not because the zone requires two acres to build a home. The lot with the house, left to Egeland and her married sister under the will, was sold to a developer, while the smaller, nonconforming lot was left only to the unmarried Egeland.
Egeland had a contract to sell the lot to a home builder, but the builder's application for a hardship zoning variance was denied by the board of adjustment in January 2007.
Egeland challenged the board's decision in court, claiming the property was entitled to the hardship variance because she inherited the undersized lot under her mother's will.
Today the appeals court ruled the zoning board was correct in denying Egeland the variance because the hardship was "self-created," whether by her or a former owner of the property.
Egeland's lawyer, Marc A. Leckstein, said he believes the appellate judges are "mistaken" and he plans to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.
"It's unfair to someone who does nothing more than accept their inheritance to attach the stigma of self-created hardship upon them, basically giving them a lot that can do nothing with but pay taxes upon," he said. "It's fundamentally unfair."