State College business owners take legal action against Summers on Allen project
A group of Allen Street business owners is suing the State College Borough Council to ask for an injunction against the Jan. 13 “Summers On Allen” vote.
The complaint was filed Feb. 7 in Centre County civil court by the newly formed Association of Allen Street Stores Expecting to Survive, or ASSETS, made up of Connecting Point Computers, Cuts By Christy, Rapid Transit Sports and Woodrings Floral Gardens. All the businesses are located on the 100 block of South Allen Street, and three of the four businesses represented have all been vocal critics of Summers On Allen, saying the temporary pedestrian plaza will hurt their profits.
Attorney Faith Lucchesi represents the businesses, and spoke about their position against Summers On Allen and the legal argument against it at the Jan. 13 borough council meeting.
On behalf of ASSETS, Lucchesi argued in the complaint that borough council violated the Home Rule Charter by putting Summers On Allen back on council’s agenda and voting on it again.
At its Dec. 16 meeting, borough council voted 4-3 to reject Summers On Allen. That vote, wrote Lucchesi, is the only legitimate vote taken on the proposal.
According to the charter, Lucchesi wrote, only a council member who voted with the majority could make a motion to reconsider the prior vote. Evan Myers, who voted for Summers On Allen in the minority the first time, put the item on borough council’s agenda with two new council members sworn in the week before.
“According to their governing procedures, (council) could reconsider that vote if a borough council member who voted with the prevailing side, which would have been the no vote, made a motion for reconsideration. Well none of the borough council members who voted no made a motion to reconsider a vote,” said Lucchesi on Thursday.
Borough spokesperson Douglas Shontz said the borough is reviewing the suit with solicitor Terry Williams and determining the “next steps” in the process.
At the Jan. 13 meeting, Williams said, in response to Lucchesi’s argument, that council was acting appropriately by bringing Summers On Allen to a vote again.
“The council is never bound by what has gone on in the past unless there’s a contract or some other type of written agreement,” he said. “What you can’t do is reconsider at the same meeting that matter, unless a motion to reconsider is made by one of the individuals who voted against it.”
Williams said that because a new council was looking at Summers On Allen, it isn’t a reconsideration, it’s a consideration of a new matter.
“It’s like the budget. The minute you have a new council, one of the first things you can do is address the budget to modify it,” he said. “In my opinion, it is a legitimate exercise that all councils have regardless of the nature of the action, unless there is some type of commitment, written agreement, that would prevent that.”
Lucchesi said her clients are not against Summers On Allen, they just don’t want it to take place on the block where their businesses are.
“This is such a potential harm to the downtown businesses that are on Allen Street, it’s frightening,” she said. She added that one of the biggest concerns for ASSETS is “the lack of understanding” of how Summers On Allen organizers will determine the success of the pedestrian plaza.
Brad Groznik, one of the Summers On Allen organizers, said the team trusts the borough acted legally in approving the pedestrian plaza.
“The only thing this complaint will accomplish is wasting time and taxpayer money on addressing its pointless claim. There will be no interruption in our planning and we look forward to a successful project,” he said.
This weekend and next week, the Summers On Allen team will hold two community brainstorm events to gather ideas and plan for programming during the eight-week street closure.
Molly Kunkle, executive director of the Centre Foundation and co-organizer added, “We stand by the borough leadership and the council in its decision to approve Summers On Allen. This complaint is an unfortunate distraction to a project that is overwhelmingly supported in the community.”
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