Borough of Verona v. Allegheny Valley Railway Co.
Borough of Verona v. Allegheny Valley Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The borough of Verona was incorporated by special act of the legislature, May 10, 1871; by this act the legislation regulating the municipal affairs of Birmingham borough, of the same county, was extended to Verona. One of the acts which thus became the law for the new borough, is that of April 8, 1848, the first section of which provides that when the borough authorities consider it necessary for the accommodation of the public, that a new street shall be opened, they shall have power to open the same, determine its location, plan and limits; that a plan thereof shall bo deposited in the office of the recording regulator of said borough for public examination and inspection, notice thereof to be given in two newspapers published in Allegheny county to all interested; then any person suffering damage may apply to the next court of quarter sessions of the county, for appointment of viewers, and the same proceedings shall be had as under the general road laws of the commonwealth ; and the borough council, as soon as they have caused payment of the damages to he made, may cause the street to he forthwith opened; providing further, that if the damages so assessed he not paid within one year, then the proceedings shall he null and void. By special act of April 21, 1873, the borough authorities of Verona were authorized to open any street included in the general plan of the borough, fixed by ordinance of September 11,1872, providing however that no such action should impair the right of any person who had applied for damages because of the adoption of the plan; and that in all cases where damages had been assessed under the general or any other plan, the same should he paid by the borough within one year, and in default thereof the street should be vacated. The property owner alone could petition for the assessment of damages, and if all the requirements of the act were strictly complied with by the borough, he was hound to move at the next court of quarter sessions.
The general plan thus enacted into an express laiv, had plotted on it Railroad avenue, a street located in large part on the right of way of the Alleghany Valley Railway Company; it extended from Janies street to Plum Greet, a distance of 2,400 feet. On October 24, 1894, the borough adopted an ordinance opening this street according to its location on the general plan,
That the special acts relating to this borough provided special proceedings for opening streets which are different from and repugnant to the general act cannot be doubted. We have decided in two cases, Borough of Verona’s Appeal, 108 Pa. 83, decided in 1884, and Verona Borough v. Railroad, 162 Pa. 368, decided in 1893, that the municipal powers of this borough are conferred by the special acts of 1848 and 1873. In fact, the minutes of the council show that in this proceeding it relied on no other power, for in the ordinance of October 24, 1894, it resolves to open the street according to the plan of September 11, 1872, which had become by legislative enactment of 1873 the borough plan; the mere perusal of the act shows it was only a supplement to that of 1848. As we decided in the appeal of the borough, 108 Pa. 83, that the special legislation provided a special procedure in such cases, we are of opinion this procedure is so different from that provided in the act of 1891 that the two cannot be blended. Under the special acts
The decree is reversed and the proceedings set aside at costs of appellee.
Reference
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- The Borough of Verona v. The Allegheny Valley Railway Company
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- jRoad law — Statutes—Repugnancy in proceedings — Acts of April 8, 1848, April 21, 1873 and May 16, 1891. There is such a repugnancy between the special Acts of April 8, 1848, P. L. 415, and April 21,1873, P. L. 824, relating to the borough of Verona, and the general road Act of May 16, 1891, P. L. 75, as to the modes of proceeding in opening streets, as will not warrant any attempt at mixing or blending the two modes of proceeding in one. The borough or the property owner must adopt wholly the one or the other mode of proceeding from the beginning to the final decree.