Borough of Bristol v. Bristol Borough School District

32 Pa. D. & C.2d 355, 1963 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 72
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County
DecidedOctober 11, 1963
Docketno. 44
StatusPublished

This text of 32 Pa. D. & C.2d 355 (Borough of Bristol v. Bristol Borough School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Borough of Bristol v. Bristol Borough School District, 32 Pa. D. & C.2d 355, 1963 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 72 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1963).

Opinion

Monroe, J.,

— This action in ejectment has been brought by the Borough of Bristol, a municipal corporation located in the County of Bucks and State of Pennsylvania, against the School District of the Borough of Bristol, a quasi-municipal corporation within the said borough, to recover possession of two adjoining tracts of land, demised by the borough to the school district by leases hereinafter referred to. The complaint consists of two counts, the first count [356]*356seeking to recover possession of premises demised by plaintiff to defendant by lease of September 4, 1837, and the second count seeking recovery of possession of premises demised by lease of November 23, 1891.

The facts in the case are developed from the pleadings, consisting of plaintiff’s complaint and defendant’s answer thereto, and from a stipulation of facts submitted by counsel for the respective parties. From them we find the following:

By deed dated March 1, 1804, and recorded in the office for the Recording of Deeds in and for the County of Bucks, in deed book 34, page 323, the borough acquired by purchase, for 61 pounds, one shilling, a tract of land situate within the said borough, bounded on the east by lands of the Methodist Society, on the south by Wood Street, on the west by Mulberry Street and on the north by Pond Street.

By written lease dated September 4, 1837, recorded in the office for the recording of deeds aforesaid, in deed book no. 65, page 470, for a rental of $1 per annum, the borough demised to six named “directors of the common schools for the said Borough under the existing school laws of the Commonwealth . . . and their successors” what we shall herein refer to as lot A, being a portion of the aforesaid tract of land, more specifically that portion thereof situate on the north side of Wood Street

“BEGINNING at the southwesterly corner of the Methodist meeting house lot thence extending along the line of said street in a southwesterly direction fifty-nine feet to a corner thence at right angles from said Street one hundred and twenty five feet to an alley thence along said alley in a northeasterly direction to the aforesaid Methodist meeting house lot thence along the line of the same to the place of BEGINNING”.

Following the execution of the above lease, a school building was erected upon lot A and was thereafter [357]*357used for public school classroom teaching purposes until June of 1922, and has not been used for such purposes since that time. However, since June of 1922, the school district made the lot A, and the school building thereon, available, rent free, for use at various times by a government training program, the Civil Air Patrol, and a drama workshop, all of which users had no connection whatsoever with the public schools of Bristol Borough. Additionally, the school district used the building erected on lot A for the storage of school facilities until sometime in 1958, when the building was demolished due to its decayed condition. Until demolition, the school district paid the cost of fire insurance premiums on the building, and it paid the cost of the demolition thereof. At the present time, lot A is vacant ground, and the westerly and northerly sides thereof abut upon premises later demised by the borough to the school district (and hereinafter referred to as lot B) and the said lot A is used by the school district, at irregular intervals, to gain access to the school building presently erected on lot B, although such means of access is not required for the school district’s purposes, as the main entrance to the building on lot B faces Wood Street, from whence access is available over the ground included in the lease of lot B, and an adequate access exists thereto from Mulberry Street, upon which lot B abuts.

The school district has never passed a resolution declaring it to be the intention of the district to vacate or abandon the premises, lot A, demised by the lease of September 4, 1837, nor, since demolition of the school building which had been erected thereon, has it passed a resolution declaring the ground necessary for a common school.

By lease in writing dated November 23, 1891, and recorded in the office for the recording of deeds aforesaid, in miscellaneous book no. 26, page 541, the Bor[358]*358ough of Bristol demised to the school district “for the full and complete term of ninety-nine years from the fourth day of September 1837”, at a rental of $1 per annum, what we shall refer to as lot B, being a portion of the tract of land which the borough had acquired by the above-mentioned deed of March 1,1804, and which, if one faced it from Wood Street, looking north, would give the appearance of an inverted “L” shape, the long arm of the “L” terminating at the northerly side of Wood Street, and the short arm of the “L” extending from the easterly boundary of Mulberry Street, in an easterly direction, to the line of lands of the Methodist Church, thus encompassing within its arms the westerly and northerly boundary lines of lot A. The formal description of lot B is:

“All that certain lot of land situate in the Borough of Bristol in the County of Bucks and State of Pennsylvania, bounded and described as follows: BEGINNING at a point on the northwest side of Wood Street fifty-nine feet southwest of the southwest line of land of the Methodist Episcopal Church, being a corner of a lot of land heretofore demised by the said lessor to the said lessee under a certain lease bearing date the Fourth day of September, A. D. 1837 and recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds &C., at Doylestown, in and for the County of Bucks in Deed Book No. 65 page 470, and extending thence along said Wood Street to the line of the northeast side of Mulberry Street, thence northwestardly along said side of Mulberry Street to a corner of other land of the said lessor now in the occupancy of Fire Company No. 2, thence northeastwardly at right angles with said Mulberry Street to the line of land of the Methodist Episcopal Church, thence along said land southeastwardly to a corner in the line of the land heretofore demised as aforesaid, thence southwestwardly along said land to another corner thereof and thence still by the same southeast[359]*359wardly one hundred and twenty-five feet to the place of BEGINNING.”

After execution of the last above-mentioned lease, the school district caused to be erected on lot B a school building which was used by it for public school classroom teaching purposes until sometime in December of 1955, and not thereafter. Between 1891 and 1922, when the use of the building on lot A for classroom teaching was discontinued, the Bristol Borough high school students attended classes in the buildings on lot A and lot B and the elementary school students attended classes in the building on lot B. Playgrounds of the respective buildings were not partitioned, and all students were permitted to use both or either, as they chose. Since 1955, the school district has used the building on lot B solely and exclusively for the storage of various school equipment and supplies useful and proper for school purposes, other facilities and buildings owned and occupied by the school district being inadequate for the storage thereof.

The school district never adopted a resolution declaring its intent to vacate or abandon the demised premises, lot B, or declaring the building or the ground necessary for a common school.

It is stipulated by the parties that:

“. . .

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Bluebook (online)
32 Pa. D. & C.2d 355, 1963 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 72, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/borough-of-bristol-v-bristol-borough-school-district-pactcomplbucks-1963.