HOLLIDAYSBURG — A Blair County judge is asking for legal briefs in a dispute that could decide if an Altoona neighborhood park becomes a development of seven houses.

Judge David B. Consiglio signed an order Friday directing attorneys for Altoona and the Altoona Redevelopment Authority to submit a legal brief by June 25 in support of the preliminary objections it recently filed to a lawsuit initiated in April by Friends of Little Orchard Park.

The Friends organization — made up of residents who live beside or near Little Orchard Park on the 200 block of Beech Avenue — opposes the housing plan in favor of the site remaining a park.

Consiglio, in the same order requiring the city’s legal brief, directed the Friends organization to file a brief by July 21 addressing the city’s objections.

The Friends group, represented by attorney Tim Fitchett of Fair Shake Environmental Legal Services in Pittsburgh, is already on record as to why it believes the city cannot move forward with plans to use the park grounds for housing.

In the initial lawsuit and follow-up documents, Fitchett outlined the site’s longtime use as a park, citing history dating back at least 100 years.

Fitchett also objected to the city’s plans based on the state’s Donated & Dedicated Property Act (DDPA), which requires municipalities to hold specific property in trust so it can be “used for the purpose or purposes for which they were originally dedicated or donated, except insofar as modified by court order.”

But in preliminary objections filed June 10, solicitors Michael Wagner and Patrick Fanelli, on behalf of the city, claimed that the DDPA is being misapplied in this case because these parcels were acquired after being put up for sale for unpaid taxes.

The DDPA, according to the city attorneys, only “applies to land donated to a political subdivision for use as a public facility or dedicated to the public use … as a public facility.”

In their lawsuit, the Friends organization reported that on June 7, 1944, the seven parcels — which may have once been slated for real estate but turned into a play area — were recorded in a deed book as part of agreement between the county, city and school district, which allowed the parcels to be held by a trustee and sold for unpaid taxes. The lawsuit also indicated that when the parcels didn’t sell on Sept. 27, 1954, the trustee transferred ownership to Blair County.

In September, Altoona secured a quitclaim deed to move forward with its plans to sell what’s known as Little Orchard Park for $1 to the Redevelopment Authority and allow the construction of seven homes, a move that ignited opposition from the nearby residents who want the area to remain a park based on its longtime history.

In raising objections to the sale, Fitchett also referenced a pair of Commonwealth Court rulings that could factor into whether DDPA is applicable in this case.

In a 2002 ruling, the Commonwealth Court found that under DDPA, “real property may be dedicated to public use in a variety of ways. Dedication may be expressed or it may be implied from the acts of the parties and it need not take a particular form.”

Fitchett also referenced a 2010 ruling by the state Supreme Court indicating that “as contrasted with recorded restrictive covenants, no particular formalities are necessary to accomplish dedication; all that is necessary are clear expressions of intentions.”

Wagner and Fanelli, in their preliminary objections, also quoted a specific clause from the DDAP: “Nothing in this act shall be construed to limit or affect the control by a political subdivision of public lands or buildings acquired by such political subdivision by purchase or condemnation.”

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.