Posted on 09/30/2003 8:04:28 AM PDT by calvin sun
Support grows for Saha fight
Bajeerah Lowe , Staff Writer 09/30/2003
WEST CHESTER -- The private business sector joined in the fight against Coatesville’s proposed regional recreation center Monday when the Pennsylvania Golf Course Owners Association, owners of area golf courses, a bowling alley and an ice rink, and area taxpayers filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the plan in its tracks.
Citing the city’s home rule charter, attorneys for the business owners said Coatesville is prohibited from engaging in proprietary activities. "The (recreation center) is a proprietary activity," said Donald C. Turner of the West Chester firm Unruh, Turner, Burke and Frees. Turner and attorney Brian Boreman are representing the business owners and taxpayers.
But City Manager Paul G. Janssen Jr. said there is nothing in the books that would stop the city from proceeding with its project. "This issue has already been dealt with in the Chester County courts," he said, adding that he would reserve further comment until after he had read the entire complaint.
The city launched the regional recreation center project four and a half years ago. The proposal includes a golf course and training center, a hotel and conference center, an indoor/outdoor entertainment center, a bowling alley and an ice rink.
While planning has proceeded and the bills related to the project, totaling $5.28 million as of last week, continue to arrive at city hall, no ground has been broken. Construction has been held up while the city and one area land owner fight out the eminent domain battle in court.
Dick and Nancy Saha have vowed to fight the city to the end in order to save their Valley Township farm from being turned into a portion of the city’s golf course. Janssen and six of the seven city council members have said 42 acres of the 48-acre farm are needed for the golf course. But the Sahas have maintained the condemnation of the land would ruin their quality of life.
The property not only houses the Sahas, but it also abuts land the couple sold to their two daughters in 1980. Each of the two two-acre parcels houses their extended family, and their grandchildren often walk across the fields to visit the Sahas. The city’s proposal would run the golf course through the fields, cutting off such access.
In addition, the reduction from 48 acres to six will require the Sahas to remove their horses from the property, as Valley’s ordinance requires a minimum of 10 acres to have horses.
The Sahas are waiting to hear if the state Supreme Court will hear their case.
While area business owners have watched the Saha case unfold, said Turner, they felt it was time to step in and file their own lawsuit.
"We are seeking a permanent injunction to stop Coatesville from proceeding," he said.
Jeff Broadbelt of Downingtown Country Club, one of the listed plaintiffs in the suit, said he and others fear the financial repercussions municipality-owned businesses could have on their own. "I don’t think government should compete with any private enterprise ..Bottom line is it’s not a level playing field," he said.
While Broadbelt’s concern has been expressed by a number of the business owners named in the suit, said Turner, the filing is only based on the law that prohibits the city from engaging in the project.
"As far as we’re concerned, they’re not allowed to engage in this project," said Frank J. Ricco Jr., president of the Pennsylvania Golf Owners Association and owner of a golf course in southwestern Pennsylvania. "..We’re not against revitalization of the city. We’re for revitalizing any community, but not in this way."
While Janssen has maintained the city will likely lease the business enterprises to private companies, both Boreman and Turner said this makes no difference in the case. "The end result would be the same," Boreman said, noting the lawsuit states the city’s "attempt to construct and operate and/or to cause the construction and operation of the project is proprietary in nature."
City resident Patrick Sellers, who is named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit along with the Sahas and two of the Sahas’ other supporters, said Monday’s filing simply shows the growing opposition to the city’s proposal. "It’s a losing proposition," he said. "They have already spent over $5 million and nothing’s been built. If it is built it will just lose more money."
©Daily Local News 2003
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The space shuttle is ours too.
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