From the PNA Legal Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel
and Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: A zoning hearing board heard testimony on a zoning application, took public comment and then announced that they will “meet privately to discuss the application and public comment.” After the private discussion, the board voted publicly to approve the application. Can they do that?

A: Yes, but they are not required to.

Section 708(a)(5) of the Sunshine Act allows agencies acting in a quasi-judicial capacity to deliberate privately. Zoning hearing boards are the most common example of a quasi-judicial agency or an agency that functions similarly to a court of law. This executive session exception allows private quorum deliberations “[T]o review and discuss agency business which, if conducted in public, would violate a lawful privilege or lead to the disclosure of information or confidentiality protected by law, including matters related to the initiation and conduct of investigations of possible or certain violations of the law and quasi-judicial deliberations.”

It is important to note that the Sunshine Act does not require quasi-judicial deliberations to be conducted privately and many quasi-judicial agencies deliberate in public.

It is also critical to understand that zoning hearing boards are an agencies pursuant to the Sunshine Act. As a Sunshine Act agency, zoning hearing boards must comply with all provisions of the law including provisions requiring public meetings, public notice and public votes, to name a few.