REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY Eminent domain sends county to court

The landowners filed federal lawsuits to stop the taking of their property.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The Lawrence County Redevelopment Authority has gone to court to get two pieces of land needed to make the proposed Millennium Park a reality.
Declarations of taking under the eminent domain law were filed Thursday afternoon in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court for properties on King's Chapel Road in Neshannock Township owned by Dr. David Hamilton and Thomas and Christy Whittaker. Eminent domain is the government's legal right to take property, usually in exchange for fair compensation.
Six other property owners have sold their land to the Lawrence County Economic Development Corp., the agency handling the development.
The property is part of the proposed 500-acre Millennium Park, a high-tech business park being considered by a semiconductor company promising 2,000 new jobs. It would be near Pa. Route 60.
Federal lawsuits
The county filed eminent domain on the two pieces of land just days after Hamilton and the Whittakers filed federal lawsuits against the authority, Lawrence County, Neshannock Township and the Lawrence County Economic Development Corp. seeking monetary damages and an injunction against having their property taken.
Russell Lucas, an attorney with Goehring, Rutter & amp; Boehm of Pittsburgh, said the federal lawsuits were filed on Monday in anticipation of the county going to court to take the land.
The federal lawsuits contend that Hamilton and the Whittakers were not given due process, and their federal civil rights, as well as property rights under the state constitution, were violated.
Court papers state that the county failed to enact an ordinance establishing a blighted property review committee and the committee did not inspect the properties to determine if they were blighted. The lawsuit also contends that the property owners were not notified that their land was determined blighted and did not have the opportunity to appeal that determination.
County Solicitor John Hodge said the Urban Redevelopment Law does not require the county to take any of those steps when following the process for eminent domain. The Whittakers and Hamilton were notified of a public hearing on the matter, which is required by law, and all three attended, he noted.
Appraisals
County commissioners and the county redevelopment authority gave the approval to file declaration of taking papers last month, but officials said they had hoped to keep the matter out of court. The county was waiting for a second appraisal of Hamilton's 2.35 acres and the Whittakers' 83.79 acres before entering into negotiations.
Jim Gagliano, executive director of the Lawrence County Redevelopment Authority, said Wednesday that new offers based on the second appraisals completed last week had been rejected by both property owners.
The Whittakers and Hamilton disputed the amount of money offered for their properties before the second appraisal completed last week.
Tax-free zone
Atty. Michael Parrish wrote that because the land has been declared part of a tax-free Keystone Opportunity Zone, parcels in those zones often sell for $45,000 to $50,000 per acre. He added that the $1.1 million offer for the Whittakers' property is "substantially less than the cost of the improvements the Whittakers have made to their home exclusive of the value of the land."
The amount offered to Hamilton has not been made public.
Parrish contends the land, which is largely wooded, does not fall under the definition of blight, something needed to take a property by eminent domain.
Gagliano has said the land is considered blighted because it is not being used for its intended use by township zoning laws. The land has been zoned for industrial use for the past 20 years.
Samuel Kamin of Pittsburgh has been hired by the county to act as special counsel for eminent-domain procedures.
cioffi@vindy.com