Residents press council on rent control legality and call for more public process on Bill 3

Lancaster City — Several residents at the April 29 Lancaster City Council meeting urged the council to clarify the legal basis for rent control and to give Southeast neighborhoods more public engagement on Bill 3, which the council said had been re-advertised and will be taken up at its May 13 meeting.

Tony Dastra told the council that municipal authority for rent control is limited by case law and requires a factual foundation so the action can withstand legal review. Citing precedent, Dastra said, "The 1955 decision in Warren v Philadelphia affirms the Home Rule Municipality's right to rent control, but it doesn't allow so without articulating reason. This means we can't just say without foundation, there is a housing crisis, so we are enacting rent control."

Dastra asked council to direct staff to quantify and qualify the housing crisis before proceeding and to hold community meetings on Bill 3, which he said alters public-process expectations: "Public property is a community asset, and your bill doesn't even require a final approval of sale by council, a variation from the public process."

Council President Baker had noted at the start of the meeting that Bill 3 needed to be re‑advertised and would appear on the May 13 agenda; no council motion or vote took place on the subject during the public-comment meeting.

Speakers called for transparency about legal opinions and for the administration to explain whether state law constrains local action on rent. There was no staff response or legal memorandum offered at the session.