Authority does not have to take properties
A Fayette County judge found that Fayette County’s Redevelopment Authority could not be forced to take more than 100 Brownsville-area properties owned by an Allegheny County businessman, and companies with which he is involved.
In June 2009, through eminent domain proceedings, the authority took 22 properties owned by Ernest Liggett and his wife, Manor Investments, the Brownsville Group and Alpha Financial. Liggett, through his attorney, asked that the court order the authority to take the remaining 109 properties owned by him or one of the companies, claiming that taking 22 properties left the remaining 109 valueless.
In a July 27 order, Judge John F. Wagner Jr. denied that request.
“Plaintiffs boldly assert that theses parcels of property, in conjunction with the parcels actually condemned, were part of a plan they formulated to bring comprehensive commercial and retail development to Brownsville. They allege without proof that all of the properties plaintiffs own in this area of Brownsville … were bought with the grand design and unified purpose of commercial exploitation,” Wagner wrote. “In light of such assertions by plaintiffs, it is likely that they would have failed to meet their burden of proof, even if they had proceeded at the evidentiary hearing.”
Liggett’s attorney, Robert Downey, objected to a June 17 hearing and called no witnesses to support his contention that the authority should be forced to take the other properties.
The refusal to call witnesses or present evidence “has necessarily resulted in their failure to meet their heavy burden of showing that the defendant has substantially deprived them of the use and enjoyment of their property, and has waived the issue by failing to raise the same during the hearing in this matter,” Wagner wrote.
During that hearing, an appraiser for Howard Hanna Real Estate testified that there was no negative impact to any of the 109 properties that weren’t taken because there wasn’t a sole purpose for all of the properties.
The redevelopment authority took the properties as part of a specific, delineated area set forth in a project to clean up blighted areas in Brownsville.