Court Upholds Eminent Domain Protection For Farms CAMP HILL (Cumberland Co.) The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau applauded a ruling this week by the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania which up holds the protection provided to farms against unjust eminent do main condemnation for highway construction projects. The Court, in a 2 -1 decision, held that the Pennsylvania Depart ment of Transportation (Penn- DOT) must submit its {dans to condemn the farm of Lois and La mar White of Greene Township, Franklin County, to the state Agri cultural Land Condemnation Ap proval Board (ALCAB) for ap proval. ALCAB was established to prevent condemnations of farm land for highway construction projects if a reasonable alternative to the condemnation of farmland is available. PennDOT wants to take the While farm in order to construct a new interchange on Interstate 81 near Chambersburg. Throughout the design of the highway project, PennDOT has insisted it is not re quired to submit the Exit 7 porject to ALCAB, basing its contention on an exception provided in law for activities performed on an “existing highway.” Pennsylvania Farm Bureau had filed an amicus curiae brief in the case in support of a lawsuit filed by the Whites. “PcnnDOT’s inter pretation of the ‘existing highway* exception would have allowed it to avoid responsibility for ALCAB review and approval on virtually every highway project that proposed to condemn farm land,” said John Bell, Pennsylva- SeP 1 * .o-sSSS, for nia Farm Bureau’s Governmental Affairs Counsel “Almost every new highway project can be asso ciated with an ‘existing high way’.” In its amicus curiae brief. Farm Bureau argued that the General Assembly, in enacting the 1979 law which established ALCAB, intended the “existing highway” exemption to apply only to proj ects such as road widening, taking out curves or reconstructing an existing toad. The Exit 7 project, on the other hand, would create a new toad system in the local area with a new interchange with 1-81, relocation of three existing roads near the proposed new inter change, and elimination of an overpass which presently links farmland on the east and west sides of the four-lane interstate highway. Commonwealth Court, in its decision issued Aug. 30, agreed with Farm Bureau that the “exist ing highway” exemption is clearly limited by the law. President Judge James Colins wrote that, “ALCAB has jurisdiction over condemnation for highway pur poses with the exception of activi ties relating to existing highways that do not go beyond the existing roadbed. Relocation of highways and the addition of an interchange involving new ramps and connec tor roads are clearly outside the scope of the exception (to ALCAB REVIEW), and Penn- DOT must seek ALCAB approval before it can file a declaration of taking.” The Court ruling is welcome news for Pennsylvania fanners I 1" n m 1 ' Til \ f 1 ’ 1 J La t ki k I Li 4 k\ .... kil GARAGE ■‘pf ,lS d< theo wldP aneloP ,ith f ,lxeo everywhere. “For years, Pcnn- DOThas been trying to usea legal loophole to avoid ALCAB review on the Exit 7 project,” said Bell. “Commonwealth Court applied Joint Milk Marketing Venture Created SYRACUSE, N.Y. Dairylea Cooperative Inc., of Syracuse, New York, and Dairy Farmers of American (UFA), of Kansas City, Missouri, have joined forces to create a milk-marketing venture in the Northeast that will enhance re turns for their farmer-members, as well as provide superior service to their customers. The new entity. Dairy Market ing Services, LLC, will serve as the marketer of close to 10 billion pounds of raw milk annually, pro vided by more than 6,000 dairy producers located throughout New England, New York, Penn sylvania. New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia. Dairy Marketing Services will be supplying the milk requirements of 90 processors and manufactur ers in the region. Dairylea and DFA are the two largest dairy cooperatives in the Northeast This 50/50 venture re lates solely to their milk market ing operations. Membership acti vities, other member services and lines of business will remain se parate. “We arc excited about putting together this venture which will allow for increased savings for our farmers on hauling and supply dis tribution,” said Clyde Rutherford, president of Dairylea. “At the same time, we will be managing “Garage Doors” 2255 W. Main St., Ephrata, Pa 17522 717-733-7570 • 1-800-285-6826 DOORS VISIT OUR LARGE SHOWROOM f I Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 11, 1980-All sound reasoning in concluding that the ‘existing highway’ excep tion is to be interpreted very nar rowly. The Court’s ruling will go far in preventing PennDOT or other highway agencies from us ing legal loopholes to avoid their responsibility to go before ALCAB and demonstrate that about 35 percent of the North east’s milk supply, which will en able us to provide superior service to our customers, particularly those large dairy companies with multiple plant operations.” “DFA is the largest dairy co operative in the county, represent ing 25,000 farms and 37 billion pounds of milk,” said Lew Gard ner, chairman of DFA’s Northeast Council. “We are pleased to be joining forces with Dairylea in the Northeast for the mutual benefit of farmer-members and customers. Together, we can have a much greater impact on milk-marketing activities in the region.” Dairylea and DFA currently have a common investment in Dietrich’s Milk Products in Penn sylvania, and have milk exchange arrangements with several of their common customers. The creation of Dairy Marketing Services will improve the efficiency of serving the fluctuating needs of all their customers. Major customers of Dairy Marketing Services include Suiza Foods, Kraft Foods, Great Lakes Cheese, Leprino Foods, HJP. Hood and Sorrento Cheese. MILK Where's your mustache? * the Finest Garage Doors and Openers Many Colors w/Raised Panel Designs H/ Sa their highway projects justify the taking of productive terms and will cause the least disruption of local agriculture.” Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is a voluntary, statewide farm or ganization representing over 27,000 term and rural families. ‘This venture makes sense from every angle,” said Rutherford. “For many, many years, tenners have been concerned about the lack of cost-effectiveness with re spect to several milk tankers going down the same roads and picking up milk at different terms depend ing on which cooperative the fanner belonged to. Additionally, milk supplies that were logical for a particular plant often went to a more distant facility, because the cooperative serving that customer did not market that local block of milk. With the creation of Dairy Marketing Services, we move a giant step closer to maximizing the efficiency of milk assembly and distribution in our region.” Dairy Marketing Services will maintain offices just outside of Syracuse, in Liverpool, N.H. Rick Smith, Dairylea’s chief executive officer and John Collilns, DFA’s senior vice president, will serve as co-CEOs of Dairy Marketing Ser vices, and John Siglow, vice presi dent and chief operating officer for Northeast DFA, will assume the position of chief operating of ficer. in the World
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