PennDOT Wins Highway Project Case

A divided Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled that PennDOT could condemn over 40 Philadelphia properties even though the takings were initiated over a year after the plans' first approval. The decision reversed a trial court's ruling that Section 302(e) of PA's Eminent Domain Code gave PennDOT a year to file a declaration of taking after first authorizing a project. The appellate court ruled that PennDOT could subsequently reauthorize the project and effectively reset the one-year clock provided by the code.

The Court explained, "Under the trial court's application of Section 302(e), a condemnor would be required to file all the necessary declarations of taking within the one-year period or forever be barred from proceeding with the taking. Such a result could jeopardize a condemnor's ability to perform necessary public improvement or even to complete public improvement that have started and not finished. Certainly this could not have been the intent of the General