If Lower Merion School District wants to use eminent domain to seize land from a suburban nature preserve, it must obtain court approval.

The new hurdle is a result of legislation, developed and introduced by Pennsylvania lawmakers less than a month ago, that passed the state Senate and House by wide margins late last week. Gov. Tom Wolf signed it into law on Sunday, according to Media, Pa.-based Natural Lands Trust, the steward overseeing the 42-acre Stoneleigh: A Natural Garden, writes Alison Burdo in the Philadelphia Business Journal.

Most recently, LMSD purchased the nearby Islamic Foundation site at 1860 Montgomery Ave. in Villanova. The mansion on the property was under consideration for a historic designation change that would have prevented LMSD from repurposing the building to suit its needs, but that didn’t occur – leaving the door open for development there. Unfortunately for the school system, though, the Islamic Foundation property creates other challenges – namely it cannot accommodate its needs for playing fields.

That’s why LMSD remains interested in Stoneleigh, despite the Natural Lands’ definitive stance against selling.

LMSD leaders previously sent a nonbinding letter of intent to purchase seven acres from the natural preserve, though LMSD Superintendent Robert Copeland and board of directors president, Dr. Melissa Gilbert, later said the district wants all 42 acres.

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