City Council of City of Pittsburgh v. City of Pittsburgh

• Decision Date: 18 June 1993
• Citation: 625 A.2d 138,155 Pa.Cmwlth. 328
• Court: Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court
• Parties: CITY COUNCIL OF the CITY OF PITTSBURGH, Jim Ferlo, Eugene Ricciardi, Dan Onorato, Michelle Madoff, Michelle Balcer, Dorothy Undercoffer and Daniel G. Keller, v. CITY OF PITTSBURGH, Sophie Masloff, Louis DiNardo and Department of Public Safety of the City of Pittsburgh, Appellants.

Page 138

625 A.2d 138

155 Pa.Cmwlth. 328

CITY COUNCIL OF the CITY OF PITTSBURGH, Jim Ferlo, Eugene Ricciardi, Dan Onorato, Michelle Madoff, Michelle Balcer, Dorothy Undercoffer and Daniel G. Keller, v. CITY OF PITTSBURGH, Sophie Masloff, Louis DiNardo and Department of Public Safety of the City of Pittsburgh, Appellants.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 2, 1993.

Decided April 30, 1993.

Reargument Denied June 18, 1993.

[155 Pa.Cmwlth. 331] George R. Specter, Deputy City Sol., for appellants.

Paul D. Boas, for appellees.

Before CRAIG, President Judge, and McGINLEY, J., and NARICK, Senior Judge.

CRAIG, President Judge.

The City of Pittsburgh, Mayor Sophie Masloff, Public Safety Director Louis DiNardo, and the Department of Public Safety (collectively, the city) appeal an order of the Common Pleas Court of Allegheny County which overruled the city's preliminary objections and issued a preliminary injunction enjoining it from continuing construction of two new fire stations. Because Trial Judge Judith L.A. Friedman had reasonable grounds in the record, and an adequate basis in law, to support the granting of the preliminary injunction, we affirm the grant of the preliminary injunction.

HISTORY OF THE CASE

The relevant background of this case, as found and narrated by the trial judge, is as follows. In November 1991 the city released a plan to reorganize the Fire Bureau which included, among other things, the proposed closing of four fire stations, two each in the North Side and South Side neighborhoods, and the construction of two new fire stations, one to serve each of those neighborhoods. Concerned with the impact the reorganization would have on the safety of its members, the International Association of Firefighters, Local No. 1, filed a grievance, which was denied in part and sustained in part by an arbitration award dated April 27, 1992.

The relevance of the arbitration award to this case is that it required all city fire trucks and engines to be staffed with a minimum of four firefighters. This minimal staffing was to be implemented in two phases, with the second phase to be completed by May 1993. Although the arbitrator's decision acknowledged the city's proposal to build two new fire stations, the award did not require the city to build those two stations, nor did it require them to be completed by May 1993. The award also did "not require the City to maintain any specific number of Firefighters in its overall complement." The award did require that the city attain minimal staffing levels on all of its fire equipment by May 1993.

To achieve the required minimal staffing levels without hiring additional firefighters, the city began to implement its reorganization plan to close some fire stations, reduce the number of companies, and build new fire stations to serve adequately the affected neighborhoods in the city. The city selected potential sites for the new fire stations, prepared drawings and plans, and submitted conditional use applications to the Pittsburgh City Planning Commission, pursuant to § 993.01 of the local zoning ordinance (Ordinance). ¹

The conditional use provisions in § 993.01 of the Ordinance relevant to the fire stations in question state:

(a) Conditional Uses Permitted by Council Approval. The uses named in this category are in general those of a public or semi-public character, deemed to be essential and desirable for the general convenience and welfare, and because of the nature of the use and/or its relationship to the overall plan, require the exercise of planning judgment on location and site plan.

....

A. Location and specific requirements. The uses listed hereunder and the establishment or enlargement thereof may be permitted in the districts herein and previously designated, by Council, when the specific conditions for approval have been met, after a public hearing and recommendation of the Commission.

....

(7) Government uses and structures (federal, State or local, other than housing) ... in any district.... (Emphasis added.)

Section 993.01(a)C of the Ordinance further specifies the procedures governing submission of conditional use applications, notice, public hearings, action by the commission, and action by city council. Thus, according to the Ordinance, after the city submitted conditional use applications for the proposed fire stations, the commission held public hearings on July 14 and July 28, 1992, and prepared to report its recommendations to city council, whose approval of conditional use applications is required. ²

However, one day before the second hearing, the city solicitor wrote a letter to the members of the commission stating, "It is the opinion of this Department that jurisdiction does not lie with the conditional use process in determining the location of fire stations." The letter of July 27, 1992 further stated that:

The issue which arises revolves around the impact of the planning and land use obligations of the municipality on the public safety obligations of the municipality. It is the opinion of this Department that in the event of a conflict between the public safety function and the land use planning function in the location of fire stations, safety must prevail over land use planning.

We would respectfully ask, however, that you continue the hearing on the subject in order to apprise yourselves of the planning concerns in the specific locations. We would further respectfully request that you advise the Public Safety Department and the Department of Engineering and Construction of those concerns so that they may take appropriate action to address those concerns to the greatest possible extent.

At the July 28, 1992 hearing, the commission heard testimony from city officials and citizens concerning the proposed fire stations, but it did not rule on the conditional use applications. Instead, the commission passed two motions which advised in general terms that each of the fire stations was "in conformance with the City's Long Range General Land Use Plan ... supportive of and consistent with the land uses and The commission did not report its formal recommendations to council, and council did not approve or permit the construction of the two new fire stations. The record shows that the chief administrative officer of the city met with the city council finance committee on September 16, 1992, and discussed the city's plans, but council did not vote on the matter. The record also shows that one council member, Eugene Ricciardi, in a memorandum to the mayor dated October 30, 1992, expressed his disapproval of the city's attempts to bypass council and the public in formulating the plans for the new fire stations. In its legislative capacity, council voted to approve the city's 1993 budget, on December 18, 1992, but the budget did not contain any specific references to the fire stations in question.

development patterns in that area of the City."

The city apparently started to build the North Side fire station sometime in November 1992, but there is no evidence in the record of the exact date on which construction began. Thereafter, the city council and four individual council members, two of whom represent the districts in which the new fire stations were proposed, filed a complaint in equity seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, alternatively in mandamus, to enjoin the city from continuing to build the two new fire stations until it complied with the conditional use approval process outlined in the Ordinance. ³

After the city raised a question of standing, the trial court permitted three individuals to join as plaintiffs: Michelle Balcer, Dorothy Undercoffer, and Daniel Keller. Ms. Balcer is a South Side resident and is the president of the Arlington Civic Council, a South Side citizens group. Ms. Undercoffer also lives in the South Side, adjacent to the proposed fire station. Mr. Keller is a resident of the North Side and president of the Brighton Heights Citizens Federation, a North Side residents group. Although we will address the question of standing of each of the parties as raised by the city, we will refer to the plaintiffs below, appellees herein, collectively, as city council or council.

The city filed preliminary objections to city council's complaint, and the trial court heard arguments on January 26, 1993. Based on the legal arguments and evidence stipulated by both parties, the trial court overruled the city's preliminary objections and preliminarily enjoined it from continuing to build the fire stations until it obtained conditional use approval, in an opinion and order dated February 5, 1993.

The city then appealed to this court, triggering an automatic supersedeas pursuant to Pa. R.A.P. 1736. Upon city council's motion, the trial court vacated the automatic supersedeas, and that action was affirmed by this court on February 12, 1993. This appeal was argued before a panel of this court on March 2, 1993.

STANDING

The city argues that neither the city council nor any of the named individuals have standing to sue, but we disagree. We agree with the trial court that under the standard enunciated in William Penn Parking Garage, Inc. v. City of Pittsburgh, 464 Pa. 168, 346 A.2d 269 (1975), the city council, its individual members, and the individual residents have a direct, substantial, and immediate interest which has been harmed by the city's action.

The individual residents of the neighborhoods affected by the fire stations clearly have standing to question the city's building projects. This court has held that neighbors who live in close proximity to a proposed use have standing as aggrieved persons to challenge zoning decisions. Hill v. Zoning Hearing Board of Chestnuthill Township, 144 Pa.Commonwealth Ct. 644, 601 A.2d 1362, petition for allowance of appeal granted, 530 Pa. 270, 608 A.2d 495 (1992). The record reveals that each individual lives in one of the affected neighborhoods ...