The Woodhaven Road project has been taking shots from vocal and influential opponents for decades and survived.
Ironically, a recent legislative oversight could have spelled doom for the project, or severely hindered it, had a gubernatorial veto not eliminated the potential threat.
The long-awaited state budget that passed the House and Senate in December contained a sentence stating that no state money could be spent on the Woodhaven project “if the project involves the purchase or acquisition by eminent domain of homes or businesses.”
At the time, all four of the project’s build alternatives included property acquisitions.
Nobody caught the language until the bill had been passed by both legislative chambers and was being reviewed prior to Gov. Ed Rendell signing it into law.
Once alerted, Rendell vetoed the line “because the expenditure limitation is an unreasonable restriction on the operation of state government,” he said in a statement.
According to Joe Steward, chief of staff to state Sen. Mike Stack, the Senate legal office discovered the would-be restriction. State Rep. George Kenney thinks the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation found it while reviewing the transportation budget.
Stack was unaware of the brief language at the time that the Senate voted on the voluminous budget bill, said aide Matt Franchak. Kenney said he knew of the language before voting on the bill, but he didn’t think it would hinder the project, which he supports.
“Eighty to ninety percent of the money (for the project) will come from the federal government,” he said, “but I think PennDOT had an objection to the language.”
Where the wording originated remains somewhat of a mystery. As supporters of the project, neither Stack nor Kenney authored the restriction.
Stack’s office thinks it came from the House. And Kenney believes Rep. Roy Cornell might have introduced the wording.
Cornell, a Montgomery County Republican who opposed the project, died of a brain tumor on Jan. 1. His seat remains vacant and will be filled in a March 9 special election. ••