Nov. 18--Rush Township did not properly enact its zoning ordinance, a couple alleged Monday in a lawsuit asking that it be struck down.

Marion J. and Thomas B. Lazur allege the township supervisors did not follow the dictates of the state Municipalities Planning Code in adopting the ordinance on Oct. 20, and that the law is void because of those defects.

"The Township failed to properly enact the Ordinance because it failed to comply with all applicable, mandatory statutory procedural requirements," the Lazurs allege. "The public was prevented from commenting, intervening or from having knowledge of the existence of the ordinance."

The Lazurs asked the court to declare the ordinance and any subsequent amendments void and rule that they can use their property free of any zoning restrictions.

Their property is 424 acres consisting of three tax parcels and is zoned W-P, woodland preservation, under the challenged ordinance.

According to the lawsuit, the alleged violations of the Municipalities Planning Code include:

- Not publishing once a week, for two successive weeks, a public notice of the public hearing on the ordinance.

- Failing to put in the notice a site in the township where copies of the ordinance could be examined.

- Not filing an attested copy of the proposed ordinance in the county law library.

- Not adopting a joint comprehensive plan before adopting the ordinance.

- Adopting the ordinance immediately after the public hearing.

- Failing to submit the enacted version of the ordinance to the Schuylkill County Planning Commission for review.

- Not publishing either the full text of the ordinance or the title and a brief summary of it.

As a result, the public did not have proper notice of the proposal or a reasonable chance to comment on it, according to the lawsuit.

"(The Lazurs') right to develop and use the property is severely restricted under the provisions of the Ordinance," the lawsuit reads.

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