The decision affirms that land obtained for open space under a state law must remain so.
File: Matthew Murray, left, and Nathaniel Guest, right, filed suit in 2023 against a plan by Upper Pottsgrove Township officials to build a new municipal complex on a farm the township originally purchased as open space. A judge ruled Oct. 18, 2024 in favor of the residents.A Montgomery County judge has sided with residents who oppose Upper Pottsgrove Township’s plan to use a farm set aside for open space as the location of a planned $5.5 million municipal complex.
“In view of the clear, albeit implicit, requirement of the Open Space Lands Act that a municipality acquiring property for open-space purposes must continue to abide by such purposes, and in view of the evidence showing that development of the proposed municipal complex would be contrary to the purpose for which the Smola Farm was acquired, the arguments put forth by the Township are not persuasive.
“It reassures citizens and local government officials who are going to vote for an open space tax that the land will stay open,” Harper said on Monday.Township officials laid out two basic arguments they believed allowed them to use the farm for the complex.
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