Real Estate & Property Law

Philadelphia Airport Expansion Problems

By Alan Ackerman

Delco Times

Questions of jurisdiction are holding up a Tinicum lawsuit filed last May in the Delaware County Common Pleas Court seeking a declaratory judgment on an 84-year-old statute that could keep Philadelphia from extending its airport further into the township.

A proposed capacity enhancement plan at Philadelphia International Airport could displace at least 72 residences and 3,300 jobs from Tinicum, according to a draft environmental impact statement from the Federal Aviation Administration.

In a joint filing with the county, Tinicum asked for a determination on the validity of a 1925 statute that provides first-class cities the authority to acquire lands for airports and landing fields outside their borders only 'with the consent of the local authorities where such land is situated.'

A previous agreement between the township and the city required Philadelphia to get approval from commissioners before buying land in Tinicum, but that pact expired in 2007 and the two sides have been unable to come to terms on a new agreement.

Following the determination filing, Philadelphia filed a motion to  move the suit to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

As acting Airport Director Mark Gale explained, the CEP was developed under federal guidelines laid out in the Vision 100-Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act of 2003 and, therefore, should come under federal jurisdiction. 

The local authorities have it right on the delegation issue.  Without the local approval, the city cannot take land outside the community limits under the statutory delegation.  However, the Aviation Reauthorization Act may have provided the city with a separate and independent basis by which to condemn.  If the Act did not specifically provide the power, the City will shortly be seeking help from the state legislature. This assumes the Pennsylvania Constitution does not otherwise limit the extraterritorial acquisition.

Full post as published by National Eminent Domain Blog on September 12, 2009 (boomark / email).