Millcreek might face millions in legal fees

Source: Erie Times-News, Pa.迷你倉Oct. 27--Flooding that has plagued a section of southwestern Millcreek for years has led to a big financial issue for the entire township.Millcreek has been hit with a request for $3.4 million in legal costs from a trust that owns property central to the township's flood-control plan.The resident who controls the trust is Laurel Hirt, a granddaughter of the late H.O. Hirt, a co-founder of Erie Insurance Group. Since 2005, on behalf of the trust, she has defeated the township's efforts to acquire and condemn 800 feet of a drainage channel on the property where she lives in the 5800 block of Sterrettania Road.The channel empties into Walnut Creek and runs through an area just northwest of Walnut Creek Middle School, at the intersection of Heidler and Sterrettania roads.The township wants to clear and widen the channel for a project it says will alleviate flooding that has struck nearby homeowners after heavy rains since the late 1990s. Some homeowners said the development of large subdivisions has worsened the problem.Pennsylvania law allows a property owner who wins a condemnation case to recover legal fees from the municipality that sought the property through eminent domain -- the taking of private land in return for fair market value.Hirt is the trustee of the Angela Cres Trust, which owns the 42 acres and the house where she lives. The trust has paid the $3.4 million, and wants a judge to order Millcreek to reimburse it, according to a petition filed in Erie County Court on Monday.The township, which has an annual budget of $26.4 million, including a $4 million fund balance, expects to challenge the request and will check with its insurance company on coverage for any fees, said its solicitor, Evan Adair.The trust paid $930,859 to the McDonald Group, an Erie law firm; and $2,429,042 to Fox Rothschild, a Philadelphia law firm that specializes in eminent-domain cases, according to the petition.The trust's lawyers said the amount and complexity of the litigation justifies the costs. The township in 2005 sued in Erie County Court to condemn the portion of the channel. Then-Judge Michael E. Dunlavey sided with the Cres Trust in 2009.Dunlavey said the township's condemnation request was too broad. Pennsylvania law allows condemnation to widen an existing watercourse but not to create a new watercourse. Dunlavey said the township would have createdmini storageabout 500 feet of new channel.The township lost on appeal to Commonwealth Court in July 2011. The state Supreme Court refused the township's request for an appeal in July 2012. And in 2009, the township lost to the trust before the state Environmental Hearing Board in a dispute over a permit for the project.Through the legal wins, "the trust was able to protect its property rights and stop a dangerous project," the trust's lawyers wrote in the fee request.The lawyers claim the township's legal actions were unjustified, and that the township "aggressively plowed on" despite the losses.They cited the most recent ruling in the case, in which Senior Erie County Judge John A. Bozza in September 2012 denied the township's request to amend the original suit, known as a declaration of taking, despite the township's losses on appeal. The township's amendment request had "done nothing more than engendered further litigation and expense," Bozza wrote.The local lawyer for the Cres Trust, James McDonald, declined to comment because the fee request is pending. The lead lawyer for the township, Mark Shaw, of the local law firm MacDonald Illig Jones & Britton, said he is reviewing the request and expects to oppose it.Two of the three Millcreek supervisors were in office when the case started -- Brian McGrath and Joseph Kujawa.McGrath declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation, and referred questions to Adair, the solicitor. Kujawa did not respond to a message seeking comment.Adair said the township believes widening the drainage channel would help fix the flooding and is more prudent than installing new storm sewers and extending existing storm sewers.The Cres Trust favors that alternative, which Adair said would be "cost prohibitive."He said the township knew of Hirt's significant resources going into the case. Financial constraints, he said of her, "probably wouldn't be considered here."Adair said the township pursued the case over its "serious concerns about damage caused to the properties by the flooding. There is a lot of frustration on the part of the township."Staff writer John Guerriero contributed to this report.ED PALATTELLA can be reached at 870-1813 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNpalattella.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at .GoErie.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉