Port Clinton officials filed a Declaration of Taking on Wednesday in Schuylkill County Court, which will allow them to acquire easements on three properties in order to start work on a sewer project.
Using its power under the state Eminent Domain Code, the borough gains the easements on the properties of Eric A. and Michelle L. Yoder, Penn Street; Edward G. Mitchell, Race Street; and Christopher J. and Kelli L. Lehman, Race Street.
"The properties ... are being acquired in part as easements to facilitate the construction, implementation, and maintenance of a certain public sewer project," the declaration reads in part.
The borough council voted on Sept. 17, 2013, to authorize the filing of the declaration in order to advance the project, which the state Department of Environmental Protection mandated.
Port Clinton plans to install a gravity collection system, a low-pressure sewer line and a force main, which will connect to the wastewater treatment plant in Hamburg, according to borough officials.
The borough had planned to condemn four properties, but reached an agreement with Evan Muller and Danielle M. Horton, who have granted an easement on their property, according to the declaration.
Borough officials have file all necessary notices of the declaration, and copies of the plan showing exactly the properties and the portions taken are available for inspection at the office of borough solicitor Allen R. Shollenberger, Wyomissing, according to the declaration.
All owners are entitled under the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions to just compensation for the property taken. The borough's power of taxation is sufficient to ensure such compensation, so no bond is required to be filed, the declaration reads in part.