If the full text is not included a copy thereof shall be supplied to a newspaper of general circulation in the county at the time the public notice is published. setting forth all the provisions in reasonable detail and a reference to a place within the township where copies of the proposed ordinance may be examined. Public notices of any proposed ordinances shall include either the full text thereof or the title and a brief summary. All such proposed ordinances, unless otherwise provided by law, shall be published not more than sixty days nor less than seven days prior to passage at least once in one newspaper circulating generally in the township.

To adopt ordinances prescribing the manner in which such specific powers of the township shall be carried out.

The ordinance was enacted pursuant to section 702 of the Second Class Township Code, 53 P.S.

Appellant's agent was unable to examine or secure a full copy of the ordinance at the law library, the township office or the office of the solicitor prior to its adoption. No full text of the ordinance was published nor was a copy provided to the newspaper which published the summary, nor was a copy filed in the county law library or other designated county office. The ordinance was prepared, a summary of its provisions was published in a newspaper, and the ordinance was adopted by the board of supervisors on December 22, 1987. The township board of supervisors *326 directed the township solicitor to prepare an ordinance authorizing the condemnation of the land for use as a conservation area. In January, 1987, it submitted a subdivision plan for the land. We reverse the Commonwealth Court and reiterate this Court's consistent view that the statutory steps for enactment of ordinances are mandatory and non-waivable.Īppellant owns a 77-acre tract of land in Lower Gwynedd Township. In this case the Commonwealth Court held that 'substantial' though incomplete compliance with the statutory publication requirements of the Second Class Township Code validated Lower Gwynedd Township's ordinance authorizing a taking of property from appellant, Gwynedd Properties, Inc., under the power of eminent domain, inasmuch as appellant was unable to establish prejudice stemming from the omissions. Bagley, for appellee.īefore LARSEN, FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT, ZAPPALA, PAPADAKOS and CAPPY, JJ.

Lower gwynedd township pa