Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors Files Supreme Court Brief in Support of Farming Couple in Exit 7 Litigation

CONTACT:
Thomas Linzey, Esq.
709-0457

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Chambersburg (3/3) - The Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS) has filed a Brief in support of Lois and Lamar White in the Exit 7 litigation currently before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. PSATS joined the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and the Greene Township Board of Supervisors as parties filing "friend of the court" Briefs in support of the Franklin County farming couple fighting to save their farmland from condemnation by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

In its twenty-one (21) page Brief, attorney Thomas Wenger urged the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to affirm the Commonwealth Court's ruling in favor of the farm couple, and rule that PennDOT is legally required to seek the approval of the Agricultural Lands Condemnation Approval Board (ALCAB) prior to condemning farmland for the construction of the proposed Exit 7 Interchange. The Brief, filed with the Supreme Court on March 27th, declared its' support for the White's position by declaring that PennDOT's decision represented an "effort by a state agency to over-ride and ignore local municipal land use planning and ordinances." Thomas Linzey, counsel for the Whites, applauded the association's decision to support the farming couple, declaring that "the filing of the myriad of friend of the court briefs - from the Association to the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau to a local municipality - truly shows that this issue is of the utmost importance to a variety of governmental and farming interests across the Commonwealth."

Linzey also explained that the State Association's filing undercut the friend of the court filings made by Guilford Township and Chambersburg Borough because "PSATS represents over 1,450 of the local governments across the State. They clearly feel that PennDOT's decision adversely effects the ability of those local governments to conduct land use planning."

The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) serves as counsel for the farming couple in the Exit 7 litigation. The Whites' battle has been covered by ABC WorldNews Tonight and all of the major agricultural publications in the Commonwealth.