Esch McCombie

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Esch is an an at McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC in Harrisburg, PA.  He is a member of the Firm’s Real Estate Practice Group, Oil & Natural Gas Group and the Pipeline & Oil/Gas Infrastructure Group.

He focuses his practice on land use matters and permit approvals at the municipal, county and state level. His work includes reaching favorable zoning and land development outcomes by way of variances or waivers, special exceptions or conditional uses, zoning amendments and challenges to ordinances, and negotiations with municipalities and other government agencies throughout Pennsylvania. In addition, he works on storm water management and transportation issues that often arise with land use matters. On a national level, Esch conducts zoning and land use due diligence associated with mergers and acquisitions and the purchase or sale of properties and businesses. He has assisted commercial, industrial and residential developers, educational institutions, pipeline and other oil and gas related companies, telecommunication companies, and small business owners and start-ups. Esch has received favorable determinations, decisions and approvals for large warehouse and distribution centers, residential communities of all types, urban redevelopment projects, craft breweries and event venues, car dealerships, pipeline projects, and coal to natural gas conversion projects.

While in law school, Esch served as a Senior Editor of the Penn State Law Review, was the Dickinson School of Law Liaison to the Carlisle Borough Council, Carlisle, PA, and was a judicial intern to the Honorable Christopher C. Conner, U.S. District Court. Prior to his legal career, Esch spent seven years working in the claims department of a Fortune 500 insurance company.

Esch currently serves on the McNees Hiring Committee, is Co-Editor of the McNees Land Use Blog, and is President of the Board of Directors of the Carlisle Theatre.

Contact:Read more about Esch McCombie

In a prior post on the history of zoning in Pennsylvania, Jamie Strong cited the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, stating less than a third of Pennsylvania’s 2,561 municipalities have no zoning regulations.  He wrote that, in general, it is the “more rural, less developed and less populated municipalities” in Pennsylvania that lack zoning.  As of 2015, 98.2% of Pennsylvania’s urban population was zoned while only 68.9% of the rural population was zoned.

Such is not the case in Texas, where Houston, the state’s largest city, is “without” zoning.  Houston is the butt of many zoning jokes – all of which are as dull as you’d expect a zoning joke to be.  Nonetheless, it is a fascinating case study showing us how our cities and towns might look without the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code and local land use ordinances.  (Google “pictures of Houston zoning.”)  I recently read a few articles examining the effects of how Houston has handled development over the last 100 years.  Two of the articles led me to the conclusion that Houston’s land use problems, whether real or perceived, have more to do with its historical lack of a comprehensive scheme – most notably, a comprehensive plan, than with a lack of zoning regulations.
Continue Reading Houston, We Have a (Planning) Problem

Whether you are a fan of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood or, to a much lesser extent, Will Smith, you are familiar with the Wild (Wild) West.  During my first year as an associate, the members of our Land Use Group described land use hearings, such as a hearing for a conditional use or a variance, as the Wild West as compared to proceedings in a courtroom.  They were not wrong; although, that is not to say land use hearings operate without procedural rules.

This is the third post in a four-part series on land use hearings.  The first two posts (Post 1 and Post 2) explained the beginning and ending of hearings, including the public notice requirements and deadlines under the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (“MPC”) for conducting a hearing and reaching a decision.  This post and the next will cover the hearing itself.

Section 908(3) of the MPC describes the “parties to the hearing” as
Continue Reading Land Use Hearings – The Wild West

Meeting deadlines is something we all strive for. Whether you’re handing in a project at work, or meeting someone for coffee, making yourself aware of the time is something we do every day. And failure to meet such deadlines creates the potential for undesirable consequences. The same is true for municipalities and developers, as failure by either party to familiarize themselves with the time-restraints imposed by the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (the “MPC”) for land use hearings can create major headaches. This post is the second post of a four-part series (Post 1, Post 3, Post 4 to come) and follows our review, in Post 1, of the notice requirements that a zoning hearing board or governing body (the “Board”) must follow prior to a land use hearing.  This post explores two important deadlines to which the Board must adhere.

Under Section 908(1.2) of the MPC, the initial hearing before the Board must commence within 60 days from the date the Board receives the application, unless the applicant agrees in writing to an extension of time. If the Board fails to meet this requirement, one of two things can happen.
Continue Reading Tick Tock – You’re On the Clock: Navigating Time-Restraints for Zoning Hearings

In today’s Legal Intelligencer, Scott Gould and Steve Mazura discuss the most recent round of permits for small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) in Pennsylvania, related potential impacts on development, and creative approaches to stormwater management.  The full article is available at the link provided above and excerpts are below.  The article is definitely worth a read for all developers, municipal officials and staff, and land use professionals.

“The most recent round of permits for small municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4s) in Pennsylvania requires municipalities with MS4s to regulate stormwater in a manner that will impact development. MS4 municipalities with stormwater systems that discharge into ‘impaired’ waters must develop and implement pollution reduction plans (PRPs) to demonstrate measurable reductions in pollutant discharges, including those impaired waters with total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), or ‘pollution budgets,’ established for them. For the first time, the permit scheme
Continue Reading New MS4 Requirements and Creative Development

In all facets of life, simple mistakes or a lack of understanding can lead to unwanted results. In the world of land use, such unwanted consequences can occur when required notice procedures for land use hearings are not strictly followed. This blog post, the first of a four-post series reviewing the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code’s (the “MPC”) hearing requirements, reviews both the public notice and written notice requirements that zoning hearing boards and governing bodies (the “Board”) must follow prior to the first hearing.  The three other posts, in which we discuss hearing timing requirements and the rules of the hearing, itself, are available here: Post 2, Post 3, and Post 4 to come.

Under Section 908(1) of the MPC, a Board must give “public notice” of the hearing. “Public notice” is defined in the MPC as “notice published once each week for two successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality.” The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court interpreted “successive weeks” to be
Continue Reading An Important Notice – Regarding Notice

This Blog previously discussed the headaches created for municipalities and their residents when zoning ordinances are not updated to account for short-term rentals, such as AirBNB and VRBO. But what do municipalities need to do to update their zoning ordinances? What thought processes should be followed? And what other new uses are primed to create – or are already creating – interpretational issues like those created by short-term rentals? This post, and others that will follow, answers those questions. After reading this post, I encourage you to go back and read our prior posts on two short-term rental cases that are case studies for what happens when zoning ordinances are not updated to account for new uses. In addition, please continue to check back over the following months as I introduce our readers to new uses that may not be adequately considered by municipal zoning ordinances.
Continue Reading Updating Antiquated Zoning Ordinances: Educate. Evaluate. Amend.