Belovsky v. Redevelopment Authority of City of Philadelphia

• Decision Date: 29 July 1947
• Docket Number: 2966
• Parties: Belovsky, Appellant, v. Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia et al
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

54 A.2d 277

357 Pa. 329

Belovsky, Appellant, v. Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia et al

No. 2966

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

July 29, 1947

Argued April 16, 1947

Appeal, No. 68, Jan. T., 1947, from decree of C.P. No. 1 Phila. Co., June T., 1946, No. 1003, in case of Martha Belovsky v. The Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia et al. Decree affirmed.

Bill in equity. Before KUN, J.

Decree entered dismissing bill. Plaintiff appealed.

Decree dismissing the bill affirmed; the parties to bear their respective costs.

Irving W. Backman and Edmund Backman, for plaintiff appellant.

Abraham Wernick, Assistant City Solicitor, with him G. Coe Farrier, Assistant City Solicitor and Frank F Truscott, City Solicitor, for City of Philadelphia et al., appellees.

Abraham L. Freedman, with him Howard E. Stern, for Redevelopment Authority of Philadelphia, appellee.

Ralph B. Umsted, Deputy Attorney General and T. McKeen Chidsey, Attorney General, for Commonwealth, intervenor.

Anne X. Alpern, City Solicitor, for City of Pittsburgh, intervening appellee.

William H. Eckert, for Pittsburgh Redevelopment Authority, appellee.

Oscar G. Bender, filed a brief for North Philadelphia Realty Board and West Philadelphia Realty Board, amici curiae.

Henry C. Beerits filed a brief for Burholme Improvement Association et al., amici curiae.

Before MAXEY, C.J., DREW, LINN, STERN, PATTERSON, STEARNE and JONES, JJ.

OPINION

MR. JUSTICE HORACE STERN

Plaintiff's bill in equity, filed by her as a taxpayer of the City of Philadelphia challenges the constitutionality of the "Urban Redevelopment Law" of May 24, 1945, P.L. 991, the "Redevelopment Corporation Law" of May 24, 1945, P.L. 982, and the Act of May 24, 1945, P.L. 977, which amended the Act of May 17, 1921, P.L. 682, by authorizing life insurance companies to invest in city housing projects in redevelopment areas. The bill seeks an injunction to prevent the Redevelopment Authority of the City of Philadelphia from entering upon any activities pursuant to these statutes, and the City of Philadelphia and its officers from appropriating any public moneys to the Authority and from entering into any agreement with it. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has intervened in the litigation as have also the City of Pittsburgh and a great number of civic, philanthropic, social and business organizations of the City of Philadelphia. The learned court below dismissed the bill.

The Urban Redevelopment Law determines and declares as a matter of legislative finding -- (a) "That there exist in urban communities in this Commonwealth areas which have become blighted because of the unsafe, unsanitary, inadequate or overcrowded condition of the dwellings therein, or because of inadequate planning of the area, or excessive land coverage by the buildings thereon, or the lack of proper light and air and open space, or because of the defective design and arrangement of the buildings thereon, or faulty street or lot layout, or economically or socially undesirable land uses. (b) That such conditions or a combination of some or all of them have and will continue to result in making such areas economic or social liabilities, harmful to the social and economic well-being of the entire communities in which they exist, depreciating values therein, reducing tax revenues, and thereby depreciating further the general community-wide values. (c) That the foregoing conditions are beyond remedy or control by regulatory processes and cannot be effectively dealt with by private enterprise under existing law without the additional aids herein granted, and that such conditions exist chiefly in areas which are so sub-divided into small parcels and in divided ownerships that their assembly for purposes of clearance, replanning and redevelopment is difficult and impossible without the effective public power of eminent domain. (d) That the acquisition and sound replanning and redevelopment of such areas in accordance with sound and approved plans for their redevelopment will promote the public health, safety, convenience and welfare." Therefore the act declares it to be "the policy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to promote the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants thereof by the creation of bodies corporate and politic to be known as Redevelopment Authorities, which shall exist and operate for the public purposes of acquiring and replanning such areas and of holding or disposing of them in such manner that they shall become available for economically and socially sound redevelopment. Such purposes are hereby declared to be public uses for which public money may be spent, and private property may be acquired by the exercise of the power of eminent domain."

Although such legislative declarations are subject to judicial review they are entitled to a prima facie acceptance of their correctness: Dornan v. Philadelphia Housing Authority, 331 Pa. 209, 222, 200 A. 834, 841.

The act creates for each city and county of the Commonwealth a so-called "Redevelopment Authority", which is not in any way to be deemed to be an instrumentality of the city or county or engaged in the performance of a municipal function. No Authority shall transact business or otherwise become operative until the governing body ^[1] of the city or county shall find and declare that there is need for it to function; upon such declaration being made the mayor or the board of county commissioners, as the case may be, shall appoint the members of the Authority. An Authority "shall constitute a public body, corporate and politic, exercising public powers of the Commonwealth as an agency thereof", and shall have all the powers necessary or appropriate to effectuate the purposes and provisions of the act, -- among them the power to acquire property whether by purchase, gift or eminent domain; to own, hold, improve and manage such property; to sell, lease or otherwise transfer, subject to approval by the local governing body, any development area, either as an entirety to a single redeveloper ^[2] or in parts to several redevelopers; and to borrow from private lenders or from the State or Federal Government funds necessary for its operation and work.

The scheme of redevelopment ^[3] proceeds under the act as follows: -- The local planning commission makes a "redevelopment area plan" designating an area which it finds to be blighted because of the existence of the conditions enumerated in the act and containing recommendations for the redevelopment of such area. The plan must set forth the boundaries of the area, information concerning its buildings and population, a statement of the existing uses of the real property therein, a statement of the proposed uses following redevelopment, a statement of the proposed changes in zoning ordinances and street layouts, an estimate of the cost of acquisition of the area and other costs necessary to prepare it for redevelopment, and a statement of such continuing controls as may be deemed necessary to accomplish the purposes of the act. Thereupon the Authority prepares a "redevelopment proposal" for the redevelopment of all or part of such area, including the proposed redevelopment contract and the selection of the redeveloper, and submits this proposal to the planning commission for review. The proposal, together with the planning commission's recommendations thereon, are then certified to the governing body, which, after a public hearing, approves or rejects the proposal and the redevelopment contract; in the event of the proposal being approved the Authority is empowered to execute the contract and to take such action as may be necessary to carry it out. The contract provides for the amount of the consideration to be paid by the redeveloper to the Authority and for the necessary continuing controls. Any deed or lease to a redeveloper in furtherance of the contract must contain such provisions as the Authority may deem desirable to run with the land in order to effectuate the purposes of the act. The Authority is granted the right of eminent domain and title to any property thus acquired shall be an absolute or fee simple title unless a lesser title shall be designated in the eminent domain proceedings. The Authority may issue bonds for any of its corporate purposes, the principal and interest of which are payable from its revenues generally; such bonds may be secured by a pledge of any of its revenues or by a mortgage of any of its property; the bonds and the income therefrom shall at all times be free from taxation for State or local purposes. Neither the bonds nor any other obligations of the Authority shall be a debt of any municipality ^[4] or of the Commonwealth, nor shall any municipality or the Commonwealth nor any revenues or any property of any municipality or of the Commonwealth be liable therefor.

The "Redevelopment Cooperation Law" provides that the city council or the county commissioners, as the case may be, may make such appropriations to an Authority as are deemed necessary to assist the Authority in carrying out its public purposes. Any State public body ^[5] located in whole or in part within the filed of operation of a Redevelopment Authority is granted the power from time to time to lend or donate money to the Authority.

Legislation similar to these Pennsylvania statutes has been adopted in 23 other States.

Pursuant to the authority given in the Urban Redevelopment Law the Council of the City of Phladelphia enacted an ordinance, on September 21, 1945, which stated that there existed in the city areas which had become blighted by reason of the conditions described in the Urban Redevelopment Law; the council therefore found and declared that there was need for a...