Legal Trend: Eminent Domain Denied. Narrow Definition of Public Purpose.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has narrowed the defintion of public purpose in its ruling in Reading Area Water Authority v. Schuylkill River Greenway Association, 100 A.3d 572 (Pa. 2014).

After the 2005 Kelo ruling, PA enacted private property reforms, like many other states. Since those 2006 laws, the courts have been busy interpretting the laws. Because laws are never perfect.

So what happened in Reading to deny eminent domain?

• A local government exercised eminent domain to obtain an easement
• The easement would allow a private developer to install sewer and waste water.
• The developer & the local govermment intended to partner  to build a public walking/recreational trail
• The green space was to be on land adjacent to a 58-acre tract of land where the private developer proposed to construct a 219-unit residential development
• The residential development needed sewer and wasewater, because condos without toilets and running water don’t sell

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