In re Vacation of Road in Middlecreek Township

68 Pa. D. & C. 559, 1949 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 210
CourtSomerset County Court of Quarter Sessions
DecidedMarch 9, 1949
StatusPublished

This text of 68 Pa. D. & C. 559 (In re Vacation of Road in Middlecreek Township) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Somerset County Court of Quarter Sessions primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Vacation of Road in Middlecreek Township, 68 Pa. D. & C. 559, 1949 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 210 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1949).

Opinion

Boose, P. J.,

— The above-captioned proceedings came before the court upon the petition of citizens and freeholders of Middlecreek Township for a review and exceptions to the report of action of supervisors. The petition for a review and the exceptions will be considered in their inverse order. Preliminary to the consideration of the exceptions and petition for a review, a brief recital of the facts relating to the road, which is the subject of the above-stated vacation proceedings, and the citation of the law applicable thereto, will clarify the questions involved.

On August 4, 1947, upon the petition of sundry inhabitants and freeholders of Middlecreek Township, viewers were appointed by the court to lay out a proposed road in the township, beginning and ending as described in the above proceedings. On September 8, 1947, the report of the viewers, recommending the laying out and opening of said road was presented and confirmed nisi. Exceptions by the Township Supervisors were subsequently filed, argued and dismissed, whereupon an appeal was taken to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. On August 4, 1948, the remittitur from that court was filed and order made affirming the order of the court below (Middlecreek Township Road Case, 162 Pa. Superior Ct. 619). Subsequently, on October 4, 1948, the township supervisors of that township decided to consider the vacation of said road, under authority of the Act of July 10, 1947, P. L. 1481, and gave notice by registered mail to the property owners affected thereby of the time and place where all parties interested may meet and be heard; and in pursuance thereof, held such meeting on September 21, 1948, when they were attended by the property owners and a large number of residents and freeholders, and counsel for the parties in interest. Testimony was heard and taken in a narrative form. Following said meeting and hearing, the supervisors [562]*562unanimously decided that the road should be vacated because “the same is unnecessary for public convenience . . . and its vacation is necessary for public convenience by way of reduced township expenses and taxes”; and on October 6,1948, filed in the office of the clerk of courts a written report, together with a draft of the vacated road.

The aforesaid action by the Township Supervisors of Middleereek Township, a second class township of Somerset County, was taken under the authority of the Act of July 10, 1947, P. L. 1481, 53 PS §19093-101, entitled:

“An Act to re-enact, amend and revise the Act, approved the first day of May, one thousand nine hundred and thirty-three (Pamphlet Laws 103), as amended, entitled ‘An Act concerning townships of the second class; and amending, revising, consolidating, and changing the law relating thereto;’ ” and authorized to be cited as “The Second Class Township Code”.

Section 1101 provides as follows:

“Power to Lay Out, Open, Widen, Vacate, Et Cetera. — The township supervisors may enact, ordain, survey, lay out, open, widen, straighten, vacate and relay all roads and parts thereof which are wholly within the township, upon the petition of a majority in interest of the owners of property or properties through whose land such road passes, or upon whose land it abuts, or without petition of the owners of abutting property, if in the judgment of the supervisors, it is necessary for the public convenience. Such power shall include authority to vacate, in whole or in part, roads laid out by the Commonwealth, where the same have remained unopened for a period of thirty years, and also the authority to lay out and open a public road which will be a continuation or extension of a street already opened by an adjacent city or borough.
[563]*563“No such road shall be laid out and opened through any burial ground or cemetery, nor through any grounds occupied by a building used as a place for public worship, or as a public or parochial school, or educational or charitable institution, or seminary, unless the consent of the owner or corporation or person controlling the premises is first secured.”

This section is patterned after section 2005 of The First Class Township Law of June 24,1931, P. L. 1206, and should have the same construction.

Section 1102 provides for a hearing, report, exceptions thereto, view and notice as follows:

“ (a) The supervisors shall give ten days’ notice to the property owners affected thereby of the time and place when and where all parties interested may meet and be heard. Witnesses may be summoned and examined by the supervisors and by the parties interested at such meeting or any adjournment thereof.
“ (b) After such hearing and a consideration of the matter, should the supervisors, or a majority thereof, decide in favor of exercising the power, so conferred, they shall make written report, together with a draft or survey of the road, fixing the width thereof, and noting the improvements along the line thereof, and the names of the owners of property through which the same shall pass, or whereon it shall abut. Such report and draft shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the court of quarter sessions.
“(c) Any citizen oy freeholder of the township may, within thirty days after the filing of the report of the supervisors, upon entering in the court sufficient surety to indemnify them for all costs incurred in the proceedings, file exceptions to the report together with a petition for a review.
“(d) Upon favorable action on such matter by the supervisors, and after the expiration of the term allowed for filing exceptions, or upon the order of the [564]*564court upon the disposition of any exceptions, if in either case the compensation for the damages or benefits accruing therefrom have not been agreed upon, the court of common pleas, or any law judge thereof in vacation, on application by petition by the supervisors, or any person interested, shall appoint three viewers from the county board of viewers to assess the damages and benefits occasioned by the proceeding, in the manner provided by this act for such proceedings.
“ (e) After the passage or approval of any ordinance by the supervisors for the opening, widening, straightening, extending or vacating any road, notice shall, within ten days thereafter, be given by handbills, posted in conspicuous places along the line of the proposed improvement. Such notice shall state the fact of the passage or approval of the ordinance and the date of the passage or approval.”

With the foregoing statement of the relevant facts and citation of the pertinent sections of The Second Class Township Code, we shall now proceed to the consideration of petitioners’ exceptions.

1. The first exception alleges that the Board of Supervisors of Middlecreek Township is without jurisdiction to vacate the road for the following reasons:

“(a) In this case the supervisors of Middlecreek Township, in the vacation of said road, have acted wholly upon their own initiative, as they did not have before them for action thereon a petition for its vacation of a majority in interest of the owners of property or properties whose land such road passes or upon whose land it abuts; and without such petition, the said board of supervisors had no jurisdiction for the action taken and their proceedings for its vacation were irregular and unlawful.

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Related

Middlecreek Township Road Case
60 A.2d 438 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1948)
St. David's Church v. Sayen
90 A. 638 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1914)
Herrington's Petition
109 A. 791 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1920)

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Bluebook (online)
68 Pa. D. & C. 559, 1949 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 210, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-vacation-of-road-in-middlecreek-township-paqtrsesssomers-1949.