1. Pennsylvania Eminent Domain Law.

Both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature have now passed a law (Senate Bill 881) which, if signed by the Governor, will severely limit the power of municipalities to abuse their eminent domain power for the benefit of private developers. The bill went to Governor Rendell on April 26 but he has yet to signal whether or not he will sign the bill into law.

The new statute provides, in delightfully clear and simple language, that the exercise of the power of eminent domain to take private property “in order to use it for private enterprise is prohibited.”

It then sets forth some of exceptions to the prohibition. Two of these are notable. First, the cities of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Chester are exempted from the statute for seven years, and will, unfortunately, not be subject to its prohibition until 2013.

Second, the bill provides an exception for properties that are blighted. However, the definition of blight in this new statute is considerably more precise and limited than the old seven-part definition of “blight” in the Urban Renewal Law, which could literally be applied to any property anywhere (and was applied to Ardmore). To be found blighted under the new statute, the property must be a public nuisance, or unfit for human habitation, or a fire hazard or dangerous to persons or property; or it must have lost its utility connections so that it is unfit for its intended use, or be a vacant, trash-strewn property in a built-up neighborhood, or have been unoccupied for two years, or be subject to a notice to rehabilitate which has been ignored for a year, or have been abandoned or be an environmental hazard. In short, the new statute restores to the term “blighted” its commonly accepted meaning.

This bill is a major achievement. It is being widely cited as a model to be emulated throughout the United States. There is no question that the Ardmore situation -- the overreaching by the Lower Merion Township Board of Commissioners and the Planning Commissions of Lower Merion Township and Montgomery County in designating Ardmore as blighted and in thoughtlessly backing a poorly conceived, destructive redevelopment plan -- and the work of the Save Ardmore Coalition and its supporters in highlighting this prime example of threatened eminent domain abuse -- were essential elements in bringing this legislation to passage.

Write to the Governor and tell him to read the handwriting on the wall and sign this legislation.

http://sites.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Governor/govmail.html
Hon. Edward G. Rendell
Office of the Governor
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg PA 17120
Telephone 717 787-2500

2. MUST.

The Township Board of Commissioners enacted the MUST ordinance for Ardmore last Wednesday night/Thursday morning at about 12:40 a.m. after the final public hearing on the ordinance, which commenced after midnight. Enactment was a foregone conclusion after a series of modifying amendments was voted down at earlier Board of Commissioners meetings.

This ordinance has the potential of completely transforming downtown Ardmore because it permits 7-8 story buildings to be built with 100% lot coverage and off-site parking within 650 feet of the train station.

SAC and other community representatives repeatedly requested that the ordinance be modified so as to encourage the densest development off the Lancaster Avenue corridor and in the areas of Ardmore that can best accommodate it. Amendments that would have protected the historic district, as we repeatedly requested, were proposed by Commissioners Gelber and Gordon. These amendments were, unfortunately, rejected by a majority of the Board of Commissioners. As enacted, therefore, the MUST ordinance encourages the highest and densest development within a 650-foot radius of the Ardmore train station, without any regard for the historic district. MUST then permits 6-7 story buildings within a 1000-foot radius circle centered on the train station, and the least dense development (5-6 story maximum) within 1500 feet of the station.

People need to understand that the historic district designation for Ardmore does NOT protect the historic district, because the Board of Commissioners can allow demolition of any and all buildings within the district if they see a development proposal they like. Formerly the district was protected against wholesale destruction by the admittedly antiquated zoning ordinance, which allowed buildings up to 65 feet high but penalized a developer by increasing setbacks for buildings over 35 feet. Even more important, the old zoning ordinance generally required a developer to provide on-site parking. The new ordinance permits a developer to use off-site parking located within 900 feet of the new building and 75 of those spaces can be in a public parking lot.

SAC’s view of the ordinance is that the mixed-use concept and the architectural design standards and review provisions should be supported. However, this attempt to transplant Bethesda-type development to Ardmore and to center development around the train station is seriously misguided. The residents of Ardmore emphatically don’t want this and it is clear that the existing infrastructure is not up to the task. Moreover, the ordinance’s off-site parking allowances are extraordinarily unfair to the existing businesses and their customers, and were enacted with deliberate disregard of their consequences. The lack of any serious, credible planning study underlying the ordinance is deeply troublesome.

The MUST ordinance will require careful monitoring as we see how the market reacts to it.

3. The next SAC meeting will be at 7 PM on May 4th at Hunan on 47 E Lancaster Ave, 2nd floor.

-- The Save Ardmore Coalition