Yocum Zoning Case

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Benjamin R. Jones,

On September 15, 1925 Albert 0. Yocum and wife, appellees, purchased a vacant lot — thirty-five feet in width and one hundred twenty-seven feet in depth — on West Walnut Street, Kingston Borough, Luzerne County. Their deed — similar to deeds of other property owners in the neighborhood — contained a restrictive covenant that “no building shall be erected . . . which shall approach the front line of said lot nearer than twenty-five feet except porches and steps which may extend within fifteen feet.”

Immediately subsequent to the purchase of this lot…