A member of the group that opposes the city Redevelopment Authority’s plan to build homes on Orchard Park in Logantown intends to go to court to stop the project, based on a 1959 state law designed to protect public access to municipal green space.

Along with two other park advocates, Tim Smith addressed City Council Monday to express his opposition to the project, citing the Donated or Dedicated Property Act (DDPA).

Council, however, showed no signs of backing away from support of housing construction on the ground on the 200 block of Beech Avenue, work that the Redevelopment Authority has awarded to developer Jeff Long — the only respondent to the authority’s request for proposals.

According to a publication of WeConservePA provided by Smith, the state Supreme Court has interpreted the DDPA to protect not only parkland that has been explicitly dedicated, but also parkland where dedication was “informal; no formal record of the dedication is required.”

In December, city solicitor Mike Wagner justified the authority’s plans to take the park for housing minus a formal decommissioning of the park based on the lack of a formal dedication and there having been no deed restrictions that would have caused the ground to remain a park when it was conveyed to the city.

The park ground was drawn into lots in a plan submitted to the city about 1910 by Logantown developer John C. McCartney, but was not actually developed by McCartney so that there would be green space for the neighborhood, according to Chuck LaMark, another housing project opponent.

Asked specifically Monday whether the protective provisions of the DDPA for parks that weren’t formally dedicated would apply in the case of Orchard Park, Wagner reiterated what he said in December — and then added that there was never even “the intention to dedicate the park.”

In the absence of a formal park dedication, courts can consider indicators that municipalities had an “intent to dedicate,” according to the WeConservePA article.

Such indicators can include posting of park signs, referencing the property as a “park” in municipal publications and the allocation of funding to support park-like facilities, according to the article.

There was recently a small sign in the alley behind the park that listed one or more “park” rules; Orchard Park was part of an online list of parks managed by the Central Blair Recreation and Park Commission and the commission several years ago installed a playground set in the park — which in the past had other facilities, including older-fashioned gym equipment.

Still, the law “provides no fixed rules,” the article states.

“Each court will weigh the facts and make its own judgment,” it states. “Any one of these or other factors could be enough — or not.”

According to WeConservePA, the DDPA “provides that donated or dedicated property must stay in trust — its original use must continue — unless the use is no longer practicable or possible and has ceased to serve the public interest.”

If a local government wants to contend that the property no longer serves the public interest, it can apply to county court for “relief” — an action which residents can oppose “to defend the public trust,” the organization states.

Smith and Wagner plan to confer on the issue, Smith said at the meeting.

The city has targeted the park for housing development not only because it needs more housing, but because it also needs to build up its sagging tax base, according to City Councilman Ron Beatty, one of two council members on the Redevelopment Authority, along with Mayor Matt Pacifico.

There isn’t an abundance of buildable land in the city, officials have said.

The city’s new comprehensive plan calls both for more housing and more parkland.

Approving the housing project despite the opposition represents “leadership,” Beatty has said.

A petition opposing the Orchard Park construction project has accumulated 1,038 signatures, including 674 from city residents, said Booker T. Washington Revitalization Corp. President Shasta Langenbacher, who also spoke against the project at Monday’s meeting.

Having neighborhood parks is invaluable, especially for parents of young children, who otherwise need to “wrangle” them into car seats for what is often a short-lived session on a playground, Langenbacher said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.