It was an ordinary day. Reading about "air rights" and how they are used or perhaps abused. Air rights is a property right to the space above or below the surface area or object. The ownership of a property extends all the way down to the core of the earth and up to the heavens according to a Lancaster attorney. And you can sever the mineral rights or the air rights and sell those separately. Builders in big cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have used air rights sales to build over or around existing buildings for decades. One common application of air rights could be walkways that connect one building to another. The developer whom builds the walkway owns the rights of the space where the walkway passes through, but not the land underneath it or above it, unless they buy those rights. Understand yet? The Red Rose Transit authority in my home town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania built condos above the Red Rose Transit Authority's Queen Street Station Parking Garage. The Transit Authority bought the air rights above the parking garage, but not the land on which the parking garage has their parking spaces. How about another example...in 1798 an agreement between the Masonic Lodge of Lancaster and the borough of Lancaster called for the construction of the Masonic Hall on West King Street next to Old City Hall, with arches and pillars to support a market house below. The Masons would pay for and control the space above the market, but the borough of Lancaster would still have control over Market Square and the market space beneath. It was a rather unusual circumstance, but the Masons wanted a space to meet and the only way they could do it was to build above the market house. Lancaster City owned the market and the Masons owned the space above it where they had their meeting room. And...it is the same way today as it was years ago. I remember taking photos for a story in the Masonic Hall a few years ago and to get there I had to walk up the steps of the old market house. Since that time 224 years ago, Lancaster is still working that way. In 1970, Lancaster Parking Authority bought the air rights to 150 rooftop parking spaces in the Lancaster Square renewal project. The parking spaces were planned for the top of Brunswick Mall, the current location of the Christian Street Garage, and a planned department store where the county building stands at 150 N. Queen Street in downtown Lancaster. Not too long ago a developer petitioned Lancaster city for air rights so he could build a walkway between two buildings for a proposed racquetball club at 130 and 131 E. Grant Street. That one never worked out. Land ownership in the United States means control of a space beyond a two-dimensional set of lines in the air. The ownership of a property extends all the way down to the core of the earth and up to the heavens, and you can sever the mineral rights or the air rights and sell them separately. Same goes for a sewer easement. The sewer utility has the right to possess the land below the surface and occupy it, and the property owner has the right to do whatever he or she wants above so long as the sewer utility can get in and under that. Same goes for power lines. Whatever entity owns the power lines that extend to any house or property essentially also owns the rights to the physical space it uses in order to deliver electricity. There is no distinction between easements and air rights or "mineral rights", the area below ground. One common application of air rights are walkways that connect one building to another. A developer like the one that wanted to put in a walkway for the racquetball club needed permission from the owner of the publicly-owned road to own the area above the street for a walkway. A few years ago I had the chance to see the original handwritten agreement between the borough of Lancaster and the Lodge from 1798. After 224 years, the building still stands at 7 West King Street. The Masons took ownership of the building over a period of years, but have now given the property back to the city of Lancaster. As far as the Queen Street Parking Garage is concerned, it is not yet decided how that property will be handled. A builder wants to build a four to six-story apartment building atop the parking garage that would include 70 to 90 studio and one-bedroom apartments. In that case, the developer would buy the South Central Transit Authority's air rights for $790,000. How would you like to own some "land" that you really don't own? All you own is air space! There has to be something wrong with that idea! You wouldn't be able to walk on the actual ground on which your property was built! Glad I'm not the one who decides how that is handled. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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