MEDIA — The Borough of Clifton Heights on Aug. 7asked the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas to step in and tell the Upper Darby School District to back off in its efforts to build a new middle school.
In May, the school district asked the borough for permission to build a school. In its filing, the borough said the application was missing several items, notably a deed of ownership, and the borough, operating under several ordinances recently passed, could not consider the district's request until the application was complete.
The district challenged the validity of the ordinances in a filing in the Delaware Court of Common Pleas in June, an action that is still pending. However, state municipal planning laws require the borough to render a decision on whether to build the school within 90 days of the application, which it says is far too short a time period given the uncertainties involved.
The borough is asking the county court for a declaratory judgment as to which ordinances apply, and for an extension beyond the 90-day limit. The borough is concerned that, above the outstanding legal issues surrounding the district's application, a new middle school will prove to be burdensome to the small municipality.
The borough is represented by Francis J. Catania of Catania & Parker LLP in Media.