"The Space Within The lines Are Not Dedicated"

As I walk through CC I constantly see small metal (bronze maybe?) plaquards set in the sidewalk next to numerous buildings. They read:

"The Space Within The Lines Are Not Dedicated"

I just wanted to know what this meant.

Thanks!

I've seen these as well and I'm stumped too. Maybe they're something comparable to what the engraved bricks at the wachovia center. For a fee, you can have your name or business's name put on them. I hope this isn't true, but I can't think of what else it would be.

** I'm pretty sure they're brass

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Someone will have a much more accurate legal answer, but the basics are that those brass plates indicate the actual property lines of those buildings. Sometimes, when a building footprint doesn't take up the whole property, the remainder is left to public use whether it be as a sidewalk or plaza. For example, in some instances, such as when a large plot (say a block) is cut up, the alley or road that is built through the block is donated (for some benefit, I'm sure) by the owner to the city for public right-of-way. The alley or road is said to be "dedicated". This is what happened with many of the really small streets in Old City and everywhere else. Well, sometimes, especially with these public/private sidewalks, the city has been known to force dedication, and thereby shrinking the lot. These plates somehow make sure that doesn't happen.

That's a poor regurgitation of what I was told.

Corrections, clarifications, Hal?

Somehow I keep hearing "All your base are belong to us" in my head . . . . ;-)

As far as I can remember Brayder, you are pretty much correct. But I also think it stops people, ajoining property oweners for example, from claiming the legal right to access thier property over that space.

If they can get that right, which I am sure is hard to achieve, they can impede future building within the lot that would limit that access. Thereby causing problems when some future use or larger building is proposed for that site, etc.

I am sure something like this almost never occurs in a place like Center City but title companies, property owners etc sink major investments into commercial buildings do not like to take any chances.

If I am wrong on the law here, anyone, please let me know. I am straining to remember a class from a couple of years ago.

Yeah, I think you're right about the explanation of the property lines. I remember hearing that somewhere.

My guess would be that the purpose of noting the actual property lines is to prevent folks from claiming adverse possession of the property.

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Not to get too technical but it was the easement version of adverse possession (I think, and now I am reaching, easement by prescription).

Yeah I think it actually is "The Space Within These Lines is Not Dedicated." At least the ones on the Penn campus say that. Maybe CC folks are more grammatically lax. ;-)

When I first saw them I thought it was public art, like some sort of comment on the ubiquity of "named space oportunities." Or maybe it was an NSO itself, the way billboards always tell you they are for rent when they are not advertising something. So I was thinking, "Not dedicated, huh? Maybe I should pay to dedicate it to myself."

But yeah, I'm guessing it has something to do with preventing prescriptive easements or another sort of adverse possession, so that at some future time the property owner can develop that undedicated space without somebody complaining.

But, since the signs are pretty uniform everywhere, I'm guessing it's the city that puts them in, not the property owners themselves.

The brass markers mark where the property dedicated to public use (i.e. sidewalk) ends.

In rural and older suburban areas, people own land out to the center of the road, and then the road is actually an "easement" or "right of way" that is dedicated to public use.

In newer suburbs and major streets of Philadelphia, people normally own land out to the sidewalk or curb, and the City or State actually own the land where the road is, but there may only be a "right of way" for the sidewalk.

In center city, the "public right of way" includes the street and sidewalk, but it doesn't always cover all of the sidewalk - sometimes the property owners include a wider sidewalk or plaza with isn't really "Public" even though it's normally open.

I belive the markers are a simple way to keep people from claiming a public ownernship of that land due to constant public use.

You'd occasionally hear about big buildings in NYC or Philly blocking off their sidewalk once a year to keep that property "private" and prevent claims that the entire sidewalk area was "public area" -

With the increased number of outside cafes and tables in Center City, it's more important now..

Hal

Ive Noticed In Passing Several Brass Plates Imbedded In Concrete In Sevreal Corners In Philly That Say
Corner Undedicated

What Does This Mean?

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