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With 2023 underway, many businesses are gearing up to complete and submit their annual Tier II chemical inventory reports under the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (“EPCRA”).  Pennsylvania administers the program through the Department of Labor & Industry. Tier II reports are due by March 1 and therefore businesses should take the opportunity now to review their operations, purchases, and past reporting to ensure that all regulatory requirements under ECPRA are being met.  This blog post provides a brief overview of the Tier II chemical inventory reporting requirements under EPCRA and how those requirements may apply to your business and its operations.…

Continue Reading What’s In Your Warehouse? Chemical Reporting Due March 1

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (the “Commission”) recently announced that it is looking for Pennsylvania landowners with stream frontages to enter into conservation easement agreements in exchange for a one-time payment. The Commission is seeking these easements in furtherance of the Voluntary Public Access-Habitat Incentive Program (the “VPA-HIP”), a competitive grant program of the U.S. Department of Agricultural Natural Resources Conservation Service designed to provide funding to state governments for the benefit of public hunting, fishing, and other wildlife-dependent recreation. Portions of Pennsylvania’s VPA-HIP allocated funds are administered by the Commission for the purpose of providing Pennsylvania’s anglers with enhanced public fishing opportunities. Qualifying landowners who enter into a VPA-HIP conservation easement with the Commission will be awarded a one-time payment in consideration for permitting members of the public to access and fish on their properties. The amount of compensation for providing these easements depends on several factors, including (i) the length of the stream frontage that is made available for public access, (ii) the location of the property, and (iii) the fishing quality of the stream.
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Continue Reading The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission: Fishing for Landowners to Execute Conservation Easement Agreements

Thank you for continuing to follow our Land Use Blog into 2022. Below are the top 5 most viewed posts of 2021. Enjoy!

TOP 5 POSTS OF 2021

  1. Kandice Hull – PennDOT’s Capital Beltway Project Is Moving Forward
  2. Jon Andrews – More Sunshine? What Do Changes to the Sunshine Act Mean to Developers?
  3. Jon Andrews

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As mentioned before on this blog, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (“PennDOT”) has a plan in place to improve Harrisburg’s Beltway.  The I-83 Master Plan is the agency’s effort to address worsening road conditions, high traffic volumes, and safety along the I-83 corridor through Harrisburg.  More details about the plan can be found here:  I83 Capital Beltway- Home (i-83beltway.com).

The project, like many other initiatives, has been delayed by the pandemic, but PennDOT is now moving forward with its plans to complete Section II and Section III of the Master Plan.   The agency has begun its efforts to acquire the land it needs to expand the highway.  PennDOT needs to …
Continue Reading PennDOT’s Capital Beltway Project Is Moving Forward

Consider the following scenario: You have recorded your plan for a single-family residential development and begin to install infrastructure.  After streets, utilities and curbs are constructed, individual lots are sold off and residents begin to move into your development.  After a week or two, you receive several complaints that the Post Office is not delivering mail to the mailboxes you installed along the frontages of each home.  When you reach out to the Post Office, you are told that curbside mail delivery is not available for your development and instead you must install centralized mail in the form of cluster box units (“CBUs”).  What do you do?

The foregoing scenario (or something similar) is occurring more and more regularly throughout the country as the United States Postal Service (“USPS”) continues to prioritize its transition from traditional curbside mail delivery to CBUs in residential developments. …
Continue Reading Mr. McFeely’s Speedy Delivery – Now to Cluster Box Units Only

Thank you for following our Land Use Blog throughout 2020.  Without spending too much time on the past, please enjoy our Top 5 posts of 2020!

TOP 5 POSTS OF 2020

  1. Jon Andrews, Looking Through the Kaleidoscope – Land Use in Pennsylvania
  2. Claudia Shank, Simplified Zoning: Paradox or New Paradigm?
  3. Peter Wertz, Water Flows Downhill

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In an earlier blog post, we discussed how the Commonwealth Court reversed the decision by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (“PUC”) to no longer issue certificates of public convenience to neutral host distributed antenna system (“DAS”) network operators.  Having a certificate of public convenience is important to a DAS network operator since it affords the operator access to public rights-of-way and limits the applicability of municipal regulation to DAS networks.  The Commonwealth Court had determined that the PUC’s new interpretation of the statutory language was not entitled to much deference and was not supported by the statutory language, precedent or federal law.  The PUC appealed and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently affirmed the Commonwealth Court’s decision.

The Court first held that the Commonwealth Court was …
Continue Reading Are Distributed Antenna Networks Public Utilities? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Has Decided

On May 4th, 2020 ,the Governor’s Office issued new guidance for businesses as they become authorized to restart in-person operations pursuant to the Administration’s phased red-yellow-green plan.  The guidance, which can be found here, includes a series of mandatory protocols designed to reduce the spread of COVID-19 between and among employees and customers.  These protocols are binding upon “[a]ll businesses in all industries and sectors of the economy (including non-profit entities), in the Commonwealth, that are permitted to conduct-in person operations…unless they are otherwise more stringently regulated under separate industry-specific guidance”.

Recently, the Governor’s Office announced that twenty-four Pennsylvania counties will transition to the “yellow” phase on May 8th, thereby authorizing businesses in those counties to restart in-person operations on a limited basis.  …
Continue Reading May 8 Opening: Guidance (Portions Mandatory) From The Commonwealth For Businesses

On April 22, Governor Wolf announced an amendment to his standing shutdown and shelter in place order that permits construction projects to resume statewide on May 1st.  This news comes just days after the Governor’s office released its “Plan for Pennsylvania,” which authorized “limited construction” activities beginning on May 8th.  Per…

Steve Matzura, Andrew Levy and Austin Wolfe recently issued a client alert updating our clients on newly required safety measures for COVID-19 in the workplace.  The first half of the alert is below, but you should contact one of the authors for more details or the full alert.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health issued an Order effective April 15 requiring social distancing, cleaning, use of masks for employees and visitors, and other mandatory mitigation protocols for businesses authorized to maintain in-person operations during the ongoing COVID-19 emergency (except for healthcare providers). This Order expands on the Department of Health’s prior order effective April 6 that required building safety and cleaning measures for certain businesses.  Employers have only a few days to comply with the April 15 Order, as it becomes enforceable on April 19, 2020 at 8:00 PM.…
Continue Reading Workplace Regulations: PA Newly Required Safety Measures for COVID-19