HomeMy WebLinkAbout00-8707 CIVILIN RE: CONDEMNATION BY THE IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF
REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
OF THE COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND
OF THE PREMISES KNOWN AND
NUMBERED AS 174 WEST PENN
STREET, CARLISLE, CUMBERLAND
COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, BEING
THE PROPERTY OF O. C. TYLER
O. C. TYLER,
PLAINTIFF
REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF
THE COUNTY OF CUMBERLAND,
DEFENDANT
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IN RE: EMINENT DOMAIN
BEFORE BAYLEY, J.
OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT
Bayley, J., January 4, 2002:--
On December 20, 2000, the Redevelopment Authority of the County of
Cumberland filed a declaration of taking of a property owned by O. C. Tyler at 174
West Penn Street, Carlisle, Cumberland County. O. C. Tyler filed a notice of appeal
from a determination by a Board of View dated September 19, 2001. The case was
bench tried on December 12, 2001.
Under the Eminent Domain Code, 26 P.S. Section 1-101 et seq., a landowner is
entitled to just compensation as a result of a condemnation. Just compensation is the
difference between the fair market value of the landowner's entire property immediately
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before the condemnation, and as unaffected by the condemnation, and the fair market
value of the landowner's entire remaining property immediately after the condemnation,
as affected by the condemnation. 26 P.S. Section 1-602(a).
The subject property is located in the Borough of Carlisle in a District zoned R-4
Town Center Residential. The property contains an old boarded-up commercial
structure that has been vacant since at least the end of the 1980's. Before that, the
premises had been used as a gas station for at least thirty-five years. Under the
Borough of Carlisle Zoning Ordinance, residential uses are the only uses now
permitted in an R-4 Town Center Residential District. A non-conforming use is
abandoned if it is not so used for more than six months.
The commercial structure on the property is not adaptable for a use permitted in
an R-4 Town Center Residential District. The subject lot is small but could be used for
a townhouse. There are two gasoline tanks approximately two and one-half to three
and one-half feet below the surface of the property. The capacity of each tank is about
1,000 gallons. A preliminary environmental assessment of soil samples indicates that
the tanks have not leaked significantly. The life span of such tanks is 20 to 30 years.
Assuming that the gasoline tanks are removed, the highest and best use of the property
is as vacant land which could be then utilized to construct a residence which would
conform with the current Borough zoning ordinance.
The value of the property on the date of the declaration of taking was $9,000.
The real estate taxes owed by the condemnor as of December 12, 2001, which were
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paid by the condemnee, totaled $512.05. For condemnation purposes, we find that on
the date of the declaration of taking, the premises had real fair market value of
$1,647.95 (a property value of $9,000, less $512.05 in real estate taxes owed by the
condemnee,1 less $6,840 for removal of the storage tanks). See 6ilder v.
Commonwealth, Department of Highways, 435 Pa. 140 (1969).
ORDER OF COURT
AND NOW, this day of January, 2002, damages in the amount of
$1,647.95 are awarded to O. C. Tyler as a result of the declaration of taking on
December 12, 2001, of 174 West Penn Street, Carlisle, Cumberland County.
By the Court,
Melville G.M. Walwyn, Esquire
For Condemnee
Christopher C. Houston, Esquire
For Condemnor
:saa
Edgar B. Bayley, J.
1 See 26 P.S. Section 1-608(3).
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