Zeni v. Twp. Supervisors of Springhill Twp

In Zeni v. Twp. Supervisors of Springhill Twp., 69 Pa. Commw. 488, 451 A.2d 809 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1982), property owners filed a petition to vacate a portion of Henry Hollow Road. The Springhill Township Board of Supervisors refused the request for vacation. Zeni, one of the property owners, then petitioned the Court of Common Pleas of Greene County to appoint a board of viewers and conduct a hearing. The Board of Viewers concluded that Zeni had failed to prove that Henry Hollow Road had become useless, inconvenient, or burdensome. Zeni appealed; common pleas adopted the Board's findings and recommendations and dismissed Zeni's petition. Zeni appealed to our court. In support of his appeal, Zeni cited to testimony in the record, including his own, to support his claim that: Henry Hollow Road had seen little use, had not been regularly maintained by Springhill Township, had suffered the accumulation of trash and debris along its route, was impassable during some seasons of the year, was not a regular bus or mail route, and, in his own opinion, would cost Springhill Township too much money to repair. 451 A.2d at 810. Nonetheless, because "witnesses testified that they use the road for a variety of purposes: as a short-cut, as a route for deer-hunting, as the only means of access to a local garden, and as the only road for checking and maintaining leased oil wells," and where "even the appellant testified that he uses the road as a means of access to the property," we affirmed the conclusion that Henry Hollow Road was not useless, inconvenient, or burdensome. Id. at 810.