Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Rachel Levine have announced that, beginning May 8, 2020, “limited” public and private residential and non-residential construction activities may resume in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, revising the March 19, 2020 Business Orders issued by the Governor and Secretary of Health. The Commonwealth will issue safety guidelines shortly, expected to include physical distancing and other measures. Additional guidance on these Orders is forthcoming from the Commonwealth.
Furthermore, the Governor signed Act 15 (Senate Bill 841) which suspends or tolls statutory time limits for development application approvals received or pending as of the date of the Governor’s Declaration of a Disaster Emergency related to COVID-19 (March 6, 2020) until May 20, 2020 (thirty (30) days from the effective date of the Act).
Any time remaining in a development application approval time period as of March 6, 2020 resumes on May 20, 2020. Similarly, any time-limited approval granted prior to the Declaration and any statutory time requirement for development applications received during the Declaration period also are suspended until May 20, 2020. For example, an approval granted under the Philadelphia Zoning Code is valid for three (3) years from the date of approval. If that approval was set to expire during the Declaration period, the time during the Declaration period is not subtracted. To illustrate, if as of March 6, 2020, an approval has 90 days remaining until construction must begin or the approval is lost, that 90-day clock would not begin to run until May 20, 2020.
The Act requires the municipality to give written notice to all applicants with qualifying pending applications, but it is not a fatal flaw if the notice is not received.
A municipality is not required to act on applications for approval during the Act 15 suspension period. However, the municipality may consider the application provided the municipality has acceptable methods in place for virtual meetings that allow for public participation and give notice to the public and interested parties at least five (5) days prior to the meeting. Additionally, an applicant may request that a hearing or meeting be conducted, but it is in the municipality’s sole discretion as to whether to proceed.
