A. The membership of the Zoning Hearing Board shall consist of five residents of the Borough appointed by the Borough Council. The terms of office of the five-member Board shall be five years and shall be so fixed that the term of office of one member of the five-member Board shall expire each year. The members of the three-member Board currently in office as of the date of this provision’s enactment shall continue in office until their terms of office are set to expire. Borough Council shall appoint two additional members to the Board, with one member’s initial term scheduled to expire in four years, and the other member’s term scheduled to expire in five years. The Board shall promptly notify the Borough Council when vacancies occur. Appointments to fill vacancies shall be only for the unexpired portion of the term. Members of the Board shall hold no other elected or appointed office in the Borough, nor shall any member be an employee of the Borough.
B. The Borough Council may appoint by resolution at least one but no more than three residents of the Borough to serve as alternate members of the Board. The term of office of an alternate member shall be three years. When seated, an alternate shall be entitled to participate in all proceedings and discussions of the Board to the same and full extent as provided by law for Board members, including specifically the right to cast a vote as a voting member during the proceedings, and shall have all the power and duties set forth in this article and as otherwise provided by law. Alternates shall hold no other elected or appointed office in the Borough, including service as a member of the Planning Commission or as a Zoning Officer, nor shall any alternate be an employee of the Borough. Any alternate may participate in any proceeding or discussion of the Board but shall not be entitled to vote as a member of the Board unless designated as a voting alternate member pursuant to this section.
C. The Chairman of the Board may designate alternate members of the Board to replace any absent or disqualified member, and if by reason of absence or disqualification of a member, a quorum is not reached, the Chairman of the Board shall designate as many alternate members of the Board to sit on the Board as may be needed to reach a quorum. Any alternate member of the Board shall continue to serve on the Board in all proceedings involving the matter or case for which the alternate was initially appointed until the Board has made a final decision on the matter or case. Designation of an alternate pursuant to this subsection shall be made on a case-by-case basis in rotation according to declining seniority among all alternates.
D. The Zoning Hearing Board shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear and render final adjudication in the following matters:

(1) Substantive challenges to the validity of any land use ordinance, except curative amendments brought before the Borough Council.
(2) Appeals from the determination of the Zoning Officer, including but not limited to the granting or denial of any permit or failure to act on the application therefor, the issuance of any cease-and-desist order or the registration or refusal to register any nonconforming use, structure or lot.
(3) Appeals from a determination by the Borough Engineer or the Zoning Officer with reference to the administration of any floodplain or flood hazard ordinance or such provisions within a land use ordinance.
(4) Applications for variances from the terms of this chapter and the Flood Hazard Ordinance or such provisions within a land use ordinance pursuant to § 210-101: Title.
(5) Applications for special exceptions under this chapter or the Floodplain or Flood Hazard Ordinance or such provisions within a land use ordinance, pursuant to § 210-102: Community development objectives.
(6) Appeals from the Zoning Officer’s determination under Section 916.2 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247, as amended).
(7) Appeals from the determination of the Zoning Officer or Borough Engineer in the administration of any land use ordinance or provision thereof with reference to sedimentation and erosion control and stormwater management insofar as the same relate to development not involving subdivision and land development or planned residential development.

2. Hearings and decisions of Zoning Board.

A. A public hearing shall be held on any appeal filed under this chapter within 60 days of filing of a complete application. The public hearing shall be held pursuant to public notice, as defined by this chapter. In addition to the public notice, at least one week prior to the hearing, the Board shall post at least one copy of the notice on the affected property and shall mail a copy of the notice by regular mail to each adjoining property owner, including those located across a street right-of-way. The Board shall comply with all requirements of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247, as amended) regarding conduct of the public hearing and rendering a decision.
B. Where the Board fails to render a decision within the required forty-five-day period or fails to hold the required hearing within 60 days of the applicant’s request for a hearing, the decision shall be deemed to have been rendered in favor of the applicant, unless the applicant has agreed in writing or on the record to an extension of time.
C. When a decision has been rendered in favor of the applicant because of failure of the Board to meet or render a decision, the Board shall give public notice of the decision within 10 days from the last day it could have met to render a decision. If the Board shall fail to provide such notice, the applicant may do so. Nothing in this section shall prejudice the right of any party opposing the application to appeal the decision to the court.

3. Mediation option.

A. Parties to proceedings authorized in this article may utilize mediation as an aid in completing such proceedings. In proceedings before the Zoning Hearing Board, in no case shall the Zoning Hearing Board initiate mediation or participate as a mediating party. Mediation shall supplement, not replace, those procedures in this article once they have been formally initiated. Nothing in this subsection shall be interpreted as expanding or limiting municipal police powers or as modifying any principles of substantive law.
B. Participation in mediation shall be wholly voluntary. The appropriateness of mediation shall be determined by the particulars of each case and the willingness of the parties to negotiate. Any municipality offering the mediation option shall assure that in each case the mediating parties, assisted by the mediator as appropriate, develop terms and conditions for:

(1) Funding mediation;
(2) Selecting a mediator who, at a minimum, shall have a working knowledge of municipal zoning and subdivision procedures and demonstrated skills in mediation;
(3) Completing mediation, including time limits for such completion;
(4) Suspending time limits otherwise authorized in this article or in the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247, as amended), provided that there is written consent by the mediating parties and by an applicant or Borough decisionmaking body, if either is not a party to the mediation;
(5) Identifying all parties and affording them the opportunity to participate;
(6) Subject to legal restraints, determining whether some or all of the mediation sessions shall be open or closed to the public; and
(7) Assuring that mediated solutions are in writing and signed by the parties and become subject to review and approval by the appropriate decisionmaking body pursuant to the authorized procedures set forth in this article.

C. No offers or statements made in the mediation sessions, excluding the final written mediated agreement, shall be admissible as evidence in any subsequent judicial or administrative proceedings.

4. Zoning Hearing Board fees and expenditures.

A. The Borough Council may prescribe reasonable fees with respect to hearings before the Zoning Hearing Board. Fees for said hearings may include compensation for the Secretary and members of the Zoning Hearing Board, notice and advertising costs and necessary administrative overhead connected with the hearing. The costs, however, shall not include legal expenses of the Zoning Hearing Board, expenses for engineering, architectural or other technical consultants or expert witness costs.
B. The appearance fee for a stenographer shall be shared equally by the applicant and the Board. The cost of the original transcript shall be paid by the Board if the transcript is ordered by the Board or hearing officer or shall be paid by the person appealing from the decision of the Board if such appeal is made, and in either event the cost of additional copies shall be paid by the person requesting such copy or copies. In other cases, the party requesting the original transcript shall bear the cost thereof.
C. Members of the Board may receive compensation for the performance of their duties as may be fixed by the Borough Council, but in no case shall it exceed the rate of compensation authorized to be paid to the members of the Borough Council. Within the limits of funds appropriated by the Borough Council, the Board may employ or contract for secretaries, clerks, legal counsel, consultants and other technical and clerical services.

5. Time limitations; appeals.

A. No person shall file any proceeding before the Zoning Hearing Board later than 30 days after a preliminary or final application for development has been approved by an appropriate Borough officer, agency or body, if such proceeding is designed to secure reversal or to limit the approval in any manner, unless such person alleges and proves that they had no notice, knowledge or reason to believe that such approval had been given. If such person has succeeded to their interest after such approval, they shall be bound by the knowledge of their predecessor in interest.
B. The failure of anyone, other than the landowner, to appeal from an adverse decision on an application for tentative approval of a planned residential development or from an adverse decision by a Zoning Officer on a challenge to the validity of an ordinance or map filed pursuant to Section 916.2 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code shall preclude an appeal from a final approval, except in the case where the final submission substantially deviates from the approved tentative approval.
C. All appeals from determinations adverse to the landowner shall be filed by the landowner within 30 days’ after notice of the determination is issued.

6. Stay of proceeding.

A. Upon filing of any proceeding and during its pendency before the Board, all land development pursuant to any challenged ordinance, order or approval of the Zoning Officer or of any agency or body and all official action thereunder shall be stayed unless the Zoning Officer or any other appropriate agency or body certifies to the Board facts indicating that such stay would cause imminent peril to life or property, in which case the development or official action shall not be stayed otherwise than by a restraining order, which may be granted by the Board or by the court having jurisdiction of zoning appeals on petition after notice to the Zoning Officer or other appropriate agency or body. When an application for development, preliminary or final, has been duly approved and proceedings designed to reverse or limit the approval are filed with the Board by persons other than the applicant, the applicant may petition the court having jurisdiction of the zoning appeals to order such persons to post bond as a condition to continuing the proceedings before the Board. The question of whether or not such petition should be granted and the amount of the bond shall be within the sound discretion of the court.
B. All appeals from decisions rendered by the Zoning Hearing Board shall be taken to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas and shall be filed within 30 days after the entry of the decision or, in the case of a deemed decision, within 30 days after the date upon which notice of said deemed decision is given as required by Subsection 908 of the Pennsylvania Municipalities Planning Code (Act 247, as amended).