Live Webcast
CC

Fighting Blight: Tools for Reclaiming Our Communities 2026


  • City:
  • Start Date:2026-08-18 09:00:00
  • End Date:2026-08-18 12:15:00
  • Length:
  • Level:Basic
  • Topics:Real Estate

$299.00 ProPass

This program is eligible for 3 hours of CLE credit in 60-minute states. In 50-minute states, this program is eligible for 3.6 hours of CLE credit. Credit hours are estimated and are subject to each state’s approval and credit rounding rules.

Overview

Vacant, abandoned, and blighted properties are dangerous, unsightly, and damaging to quality of life in our communities.  They can harbor crime and devalue surrounding properties. Tax revenues are lost not only from the blighted property itself, but also from properties in the surrounding area affected by the presence of the blighted property. This session will feature in-depth discussion by solicitors, code officials, and professionals involved in the identification, remediation, and redevelopment of blighted properties. 

Topics in this three (3) hour session will include:

  • Code enforcement practice and procedure
  • Practice before Blighted Property Review Committees
  • Adaptive Reuse, and tax incentives for repurposing and re-use of blighted properties
  • Conservatorship, Land Banks and owner/municipal options

Please join our course planners and faculty for this three (3) substantive CLE credit program.  This seminar is recommended for solicitors in all types of communities, and for those representing property owners and developers.

Presented in partnership with PBA’s Municipal Law Section

Faculty

Megan M. Turnbull, Esq.

Ms. Turnbull is a Partner at Weiss Burkardt Kramer LLC, where she works with municipalities and school districts in the role of Solicitor, Labor Counsel and Special Counsel. Megan is an experienced municipal solicitor. She has a particular focus on blight and redevelopment where she seeks creative, sustainable solutions to improve communities. She has served as Special Blight Counsel to Allegheny County communities and to the Congress of Neighboring Communities (CONNECT), offering training and legal representation. Megan has been named a 2023 Pennsylvania Super Lawyers in the areas of municipal and school law. She currently serves as the Chair of the PBA Municipal Law Section. Megan is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association, where she has served as the Chair of the School and Municipal Section and the Political Action Committee. She is a Fellow to the Allegheny Bar Foundation and a member of the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy Board of Directors. Megan is admitted to practice in the Courts of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and the United States Supreme Court. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Penn State University, and her Juris Doctor from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2004.

Alan W. Flenner, JD, PE

Mr. Flenner is a Vice President, Corporate Counsel, and Facility Security Officer with Gannett Fleming, Inc., a global infrastructure consulting firm based in Camp Hill that specializes in natural resources, transportation, water, power and facility-related projects. He focuses on professional services agreements, compliance with industrial security requirements, occupational safety and real estate matters, and advising engineers, architects, and other design professionals with respect to the legal aspects of their services. Prior to joining Gannett Fleming, Mr. Flenner was an associate with High Swartz LLP in Norristown, where he concentrated his practice on matters associated with the built and natural environments, with a particular emphasis on land use and municipal law. In addition to his legal career, Mr. Flenner is a retired Captain with the U.S. Navy Civil Engineer Corps. His Navy experience includes operational assignments with the Naval Construction Force (Seabees) and staff assignments with the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) in Washington, DC, including Deputy Chief of Staff. Mr. Flenner has commanded a naval construction battalion, coordinated battle damage repair in Fallujah, Iraq, and directed environmental programs at installations in Philadelphia and Mechanicsburg. He received his J.D. from the Pennsylvania State University, an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois, and a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Delaware. Mr. Flenner is a past Chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Municipal Law Section, a Registered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania and Delaware, a credentialed Envision Sustainability professional with the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, and a Registered Environmental Manager with the National Registry of Environmental Professionals.

Joan E. London, Esq.

Ms. London is a Shareholder with the firm of Kozloff Stoudt, Professional Corporation in Berks County, PA, practicing in the areas of municipal law, land use, employment law, and appellate practice. Born in Philadelphia, she is a graduate of Villanova University, with a BA and MA in Political Science, and a J.D. from The Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle. Ms. London is a member of the Berks County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations (PBA). She is past Chair of the Municipal Law Section of the PBA and served as a member of the PBA House of Delegates. Ms. London served as President of the Berks County Bar Association in 2018, served as its Treasurer from 2003 to 2006, and now serves as Co-Chair of its Municipal/Education/Environmental/Real Estate Section. Ms. London has planned and taught seminars and appeared in programs offered by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the Pennsylvania State Association of Boroughs, the Albright College Center for Excellence in Local Government, the Berks County Bar Association, the Society for Human Resources Management, the PA Association of Sewage Enforcement Officers, the Pennsylvania Planning Association, and the Pennsylvania Housing Alliance. These programs have addressed topics including validity challenges to land use ordinances, zoning for agricultural preservation, the Sunshine Act, the Right to Know Law, wage and hour law, employment discrimination, ethics for professional land use planners, administrative search warrants, and blighted property remediation. Ms. London authored the chapter titled “Meetings and Records” for the Solicitor’s Handbook published by the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, and co-authored a cover article for the May-June 2013 issue of The Pennsylvania Lawyer magazine titled “Emerging from the Red: What to do About Municipalities In Financial Trouble.”  She is a regular contributor to the Berks County Bar Association quarterly magazine, The Berks Barrister. 


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