Consequences of Not Objecting to An Announced Additional Hearing Date

In Hogan v. Pequea Township Zoning Hearing Board, 162 Pa. Commw. 282, 638 A.2d 464 (Pa. Cmwlth), an applicant was held to have waived his right to a deemed approval by failing to object to an announced additional hearing date beyond the 45-day limit where oral argument was allowed; in Wistuk v. Lower Mt. Bethel Township Zoning Hearing Board, 887 A.2d 343 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2005), the township zoning board held its last hearing and announced that the record was closed, but legal arguments could be submitted via briefs for approximately three weeks, up until the date when the board would resume solely to deliberate, with no testimony or oral arguments permitted, and the board issued its written decision 59 days after the last hearing. the applicant in Wistuk argued that her case was factually different from Hogan in that no oral argument was allowed at the meeting subsequent to the last hearing. The Court in Wistuk opined that since the applicant did not object to the post-hearing briefing period, or question the effect of the briefing offered by the board on the 45-day decision period, her rights, like the applicant in Hogan, were waived.