Landowners

Several Medford Township landowners of large tracts have expressed an interest in the state Farmland Preservation Program, which is designed to save farms from residential and commercial development. At a meeting earlier this month in Medford's municipal building, more than 30 landowners heard Charles Gallagher, land use coordinator for Burlington County, explain how the program works. Medford's council had requested the informal meeting between landowners and the county and had sent 67 invitations to the meeting to those owning at least 20 acres, according to Reed Haywood, a township planning official.

Planners had a preview Monday night of the pressure they can expect from East Nantmeal landowners wary of a proposed zoning ordinance. James A. Cochrane, a real-estate agent and major landowner in the township, expressed shock that a 220-acre farm in the agricultural preservation district would be limited to a total of nine dwellings under the new ordinance. "Once this is in place, you have really put the noose around the landowner's neck," Cochrane said. Ronald Agulnick, township solicitor, responded: "The only time he's hung is when he's no longer willing to keep it open.

Lumberton property owners, who together represent 965 acres of open space and farmland in the township, have applied for a publicly funded program that would pay them to preserve their land rather than sell it for commercial or private development. The nine applicants range from firms to families. Inductotherm Industries Inc., a Westampton-based manufacturer of foundry furnaces, for example, has offered a 198-acre undeveloped property on Lumberton-Eayerstown Road for which it has no plans, said Manning Smith, director of corporate development.

In an expedited case that could have turned the state's natural gas industry on its head, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday rejected an attempt by Marcellus Shale landowners to get a better deal from gas operators. The court upheld the validity of leases signed by property owners, who claimed the deals violated state law. "The court could have invalidated tens of thousands of leases," said David R. Fine, a Harrisburg lawyer who represented defendants Elexco Land Services Inc. and Southwestern Energy Production Co. Inc. "It would have been catastrophic, really.

Superior Court Judge Martin Haines ruled last week that Pemberton Township landowners Doris and Aleksander Owczarski must begin selling some of the 12 to 14 properties they own in the township to pay for the cleanup of five illegal dumps on their properties. The Jan. 24 court decision resolves a suit the township filed in 1986, said township solicitor John Gillespie. Haines ordered the Owczarskis to create a fund for both the cleanup of the dumps and to pay $40,000 in penalties and legal fees, Gillespie said.

A Lower Merion resident whose property includes a major link in a 63-year- old equestrian and pedestrian trail system has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn a township ordinance that deemed the trails public rights of way. The lawsuit, brought by Arthur A. Wolk of Gladwyne, contends that Lower Merion Township and its commissioners, "in an effort to retain the last vestiges of baronial privilege," have conspired to deprive him and other...

Chuck Johnson, owner of the Browse Around Shop, an antiques shop on Route 38 in Hainesport, gets calls regularly from customers who ask if the driveway to his business is passable. And it is not an unusual query. A state construction project begun last spring on Route 38 has rendered Johnson's entrance steep and treacherous, even in good weather, he said. Last week, one woman's car skidded off the edge of the driveway and was stuck on the ice until five men were successful in moving it. The shop is filled with antiques, but lately not with people, said Johnson, who now depends more on wholesale business.

The federal government issued an ultimatum yesterday to people who own land designated for the Flight 93 memorial in Western Pennsylvania: They have one week to reach an agreement on the sale of their land or the government will initiate proceedings to seize it. The order came hours after Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) met with people who own 500 acres in and around the Shanksville area, where Flight 93 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, and with victims' relatives eager to see the memorial built in time for the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

In a major victory for property-rights advocates, the Supreme Court yesterday opened federal courtrooms to lawsuits seeking less government protection of endangered plants and animals. The 9-0 decision is expected to encourage landowners to sue the federal government when they believe they are harmed by efforts to save species. Lower courts had ruled that only people seeking to promote the preservation of species could sue under the Endangered Species Act. Sharply disagreeing, the Supreme Court found it "readily apparent" that another objective of the act "is to avoid needless economic dislocation produced by agency officials zealously but unintelligently pursuing their environmental objectives," Justice Antonin Scalia wrote.

With farmland in Chester County fast disappearing beneath the bulldozers, county officials have decided to take their message of preservation to some of the people who can truly make a difference - large landowners. Yesterday, they released a handbook that outlines for these landowners alternatives to selling to the first developer who knocks on the door. Called "Taking Control of Your Land: A Land Stewardship Guidebook for Landowners," the document discusses the financial benefits of conservation-oriented development and the tax benefits of conservation easements.

In the Region WPCS acquisition called off WPCS International Inc. , of Exton, which agreed last June to be acquired by DirecTV installer Multiband Corp. , of Minnesota, said Multiband called off the deal and will pay WPCS a $250,000 breakup fee. In addition, WPCS directors will meet to discuss the termination of the strategic alternatives process that has been under way for more than a year, the company said. Multiband had offered $3.20 a share for WPCS, a communications infrastructure engineering company whose shares have traded in a 52-week range of $1.57 to $3.04.

WASHINGTON - Mike and Chantell Sackett wanted to live on scenic Priest Lake in Idaho but couldn't afford to. So they bought a residential lot across the road that offered a distant view of the water, cleared the land, and put down gravel. But instead of building their dream home, the Sacketts found themselves enmeshed in a four-year legal battle with the Environmental Protection Agency over whether their dry lot is protected "wetlands" and possibly off-limits for building. On Monday, the Supreme Court will take up the Sacketts' case, not to redefine wetlands but to decide whether landowners are entitled to a hearing before a judge when confronted by the EPA. The case is being closely watched by developers and environmentalists.

Aren't you sick of the gridlock? The refusal to compromise, the unwillingness to listen to the other side, the take-no-prisoners vituperation? No, not Washington - Pennsylvania. Natural-gas drilling is an issue on which communities should and could find common ground. But the angry tone of the debate is only driving us apart. The polarization is only partly about the risk of environmental damage. In the county where we live, for example, drilling has brought long-simmering social tensions to the surface.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - Large numbers of Haitians are leaving the dirty, overcrowded camps that sprang up after last year's earthquake, some lured away by financial incentives from officials and others forced out by landowners. Many more may be pushed out, with no safe place to go, just ahead of the rainy season that starts in May, the International Organization for Migration said in a report distributed Friday. The overall camp population already has dropped by more than half in recent months, to an estimated 680,000, the IOM said, even though almost no new housing has been built and few repairs have been made to dwellings damaged by the magnitude-7.

Texas pipeline companies have the power of eminent domain, which allows them to site pipelines even over the objection of property owners. Can they do that in Pennsylvania? The short answer: Yes. According to the Public Utility Commission, six pipeline companies are registered in Pennsylvania as utilities, giving them the right to take easements by eminent domain - at a fair-market rate. In January, a Texas company applied to the PUC to build a pipeline in Susquehanna County to serve Marcellus Shale gas wells, which has triggered a full-scale review of the state's policy.

In an expedited case that could have turned the state's natural gas industry on its head, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday rejected an attempt by Marcellus Shale landowners to get a better deal from gas operators. The court upheld the validity of leases signed by property owners, who claimed the deals violated state law. "The court could have invalidated tens of thousands of leases," said David R. Fine, a Harrisburg lawyer who represented defendants Elexco Land Services Inc. and Southwestern Energy Production Co. Inc. "It would have been catastrophic, really.

If there is such a thing as a typical small-town law practice, then Les Greevy's could serve as the template. Or at least it might have a few years ago. Greevy, 66, has been practicing law in Williamsport in the state's northern tier for more than 40 years, just as his father and grandfather had before him. His practice traditionally centered on representing municipal governments, insurance companies, and individual clients seeking advice...

For decades, developers of natural gas bought mineral rights in northern Pennsylvania for a few bucks an acre, and that was the end of the story - no drilling ever took place. So Ronald B. Stamets balked when a land man showed up two years ago and offered him $500 an acre for a gas lease. " 'Whoa, this guy must know something I don't know,' " Stamets, 63, a Web developer who lives near Lake Como in Wayne County, in the state's northeast corner, recalled thinking. "They were offering real money.

It's welcome news that the National Park Service has reached agreement with landowners in southwestern Pennsylvania to build a memorial to Flight 93. Prolonged negotiations had threatened the government's timetable to complete the memorial in time for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in 2011. But the announcement by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar of final agreements for 1,400 acres around the crash site should allow the memorial to be built by that deadline. The heroic acts of the 40 passengers and crew aboard United Flight 93 deserve a permanent tribute.

The federal government has reached final agreements with landowners to purchase 1,400 acres at the Flight 93 crash site in southwestern Pennsylvania yesterday, clearing the way for construction to begin on the 9/11 memorial park this fall. The announcement means the government will not invoke eminent domain to seize the land, a prospect that was raised in the spring. "The fields of western Pennsylvania, where the heroes of Flight 93 perished, are hallowed ground for a grateful nation," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said at a news conference announcing the deal.