Blackwood, Inc. v. Township of Reilly

923 A.2d 1256, 2007 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 244
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 18, 2007
StatusPublished

This text of 923 A.2d 1256 (Blackwood, Inc. v. Township of Reilly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blackwood, Inc. v. Township of Reilly, 923 A.2d 1256, 2007 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 244 (Pa. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION BY

Judge COLINS.

Blackwood, Inc. appeals an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County that denied Blackwood’s declaratory judgment action and entered judgment in favor of the Township of Reilly (Township). We affirm.

Blackwood filed an action seeking a declaration that Township Ordinance No. 3 of 2004 is invalid. Ordinance No. 3 set forth weight limitations varying from two to ten tons on four Township roads: Black Diamond Road, Church Street, Meadow Street, and Flicker Road. The facts, as found by the trial court, are as follows. Blackwood owns approximately 1,847 acres in a conservation mining district in the Township. An active railroad line bisects the property dividing it into a northern and southern section. The Township roads at issue run through Blackwood’s northern property. Unpaved portions of the streets consist of raw earth and are in poor condition. The roads have been in this condition since before Blackwood acquired the property. Flicker Road had a weight limit of two tons that predates the year 2000, while the other three roads had no limit until the Township adopted Ordinance No. 3. The Ordinance placed: a ten-ton limit on the paved portions of Church Street and a two-ton limit on the unpaved portions of that street; a ten-ton limit on Meadow Street from its intersection with State Route 209 over the paved portions of the street, and a two-ton limit on the unpaved portion of the street; a two-ton limit on Flicker Road from its intersection with State Route 209 to the intersection of Black Diamond Road; and a ten-ton limit on Black Diamond Road from the Township’s line over the paved portions of the road and a two-ton limit on the unpaved portion of the road.

In late 2003 or early 2004, Char-Pac Coal Company requested permission from the Township to drive forty-ton dump trucks on Flicker Road in order to conduct mining operations. The Township’s Supervisors requested its engineer, Christopher G. Bentz, to review Char-Pac’s request. Mr. Bentz conducted an engineering and traffic study of “roadway geometric review, traffic volume, pavement analysis, and a past highway breakup review” of the roads at issue.1 Based upon that study, the Township adopted Ordinance No. 3. The trial court also determined that the unpaved portions of the roads were in very hazardous conditions and that the Township had a limited highway budget, and that these factors were the basis for the Township’s adoption of the Ordinance.

[1259]*1259Blackwood included five counts in its Complaint: (1) that the Ordinance is invalid because it results in a confiscatory and de facto taking under the Eminent Domain Code,2 (Count I); (2) that the Ordinance is invalid because it constitutes a regulatory taking depriving Blackwood of the lawful use of its property (Count II); (3) that the Township’s act in adopting the Ordinance reflects a discriminatory enforcement of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 101 — 9805; (Count III); (4) that the adoption of the Ordinance has deprived Blackwood of its substantive due process rights to make lawful use of its property (Count IV); and (5) that the Township did not comply with procedural requirements in the enactment process (Count V).

The trial court concluded that Section 4902 of the Pennsylvania Motor Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 4902 authorized the Township to place weight limitations on its roads in order to ensure the safety of motorists, and that the Township’s study of the roads supported the Township’s decision to enact the Ordinance. The trial court determined that the limitations were reasonable because of the dangerous condition of the unpaved portions of the roads and that the Ordinance had not resulted in a de facto or regulatory taking of Black-wood’s property. The trial court further concluded that the Township had not engaged in discriminatory enforcement of the Vehicle Code or a violation of Blackwood’s due process rights. Based upon these conclusions, the trial court denied Blackwood’s request for declaratory relief.

The sole issue Blackwood presents is whether the trial court ignored substantial evidence that supports Blackwood’s assertion that the Ordinance places unreasonable weight limits on the roads and thereby erred as a matter of law or abused its discretion in denying the request for declaratory relief.

The Declaratory Judgments Act (Act), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 7531-7541, permits courts to consider claims of parties seeking “relief from uncertainty and insecurity with respect to rights, and other relations.” See 42 Pa.C.S. § 7541(a). That section of the Act makes clear that the availability of a statutory remedy shall not preclude declaratory relief. However, courts still have discretion to deny consideration of a request for declaratory relief if the requested decree “would not terminate the uncertainty or controversy.” 42 Pa. C.S. § 7537. In Blackwell v. State Ethics Commission, 125 Pa.Cmwlth. 42, 556 A.2d 988, 991 (1989), this Court noted that

[w]hen a statute provides for an exclusive remedy which calls for specialized fact finding and/or application of an agency’s administrative expertise, declaratory relief is not properly granted. When, however, challenges — particularly constitutional challenges — are set forth questioning the validity of a statute itself or questioning the scope of a governmental body’s action pursuant to statutory authority, then the Declaratory Judgments Act is properly invoked, because “the existence of an alternative remedy shall not be a ground for refusal to proceed.... ”

(Footnote omitted.)

Blackwood, asserting that the Ordinance operates in a confiscatory manner and constitutes a de facto taking under the Eminent Domain Code, first argues that the trial court erred by faffing to declare the Ordinance invalid on that basis. Although Blackwood has offered legal citation for the proposition that a de facto [1260]*1260taking can occur with regard to potential uses of property (in this case the more lucrative coal mining it seeks to conduct) as well as present uses, we note that Blackwood has not offered any support for the proposition that a court may declare an ordinance unlawful because it has the effect of taking property without just compensation. In other words, Blackwood has not asked that the Court simply declare that a de facto taking has occurred, but to declare the Ordinance invalid simply on the basis that the Ordinance results in a taking. Blackwood has cited no authority for the proposition that an ordinance should be declared invalid on such grounds. Accordingly, we will not reverse the trial court’s decision on the basis of this argument.

Blackwood alternatively seeks a statement from the Court as to whether Blackwood may obtain damages from the Township, presumably under the Eminent Domain Code. We conclude that we can offer no such declaration. Although the Declaratory Judgment Act makes clear that the availability of a statutory remedy should not necessarily preclude declaratory relief, we believe that the question of whether damages are appropriate for an alleged de facto taking is best left to resolution by the process afforded under the Eminent Domain Code. The record in this case indicates that Blackwood has attempted to obtain approval from the owner of the railroad tracks to provide a private crossing, but has been unsuccessful.

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Related

Blackwell v. Pa. St. Ethics Comm.
556 A.2d 988 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
923 A.2d 1256, 2007 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blackwood-inc-v-township-of-reilly-pacommwct-2007.