Full opinion text
OPINION DIAMOND, District Judge. The Township of South Fayette (“South Fayette”) commenced this suit with a complaint seeking an injunction prohibiting the Allegheny County Housing Authority (“ACHA”) from acquiring nine townhouses in South Fayette for use in a county-wide public housing program. ACHA is purchasing the townhouses as so-called “scattered-site” single-family public housing units pursuant to the mandates of a Consent Decree negotiated and entered into by The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), ACHA, Allegheny County (“County”), and the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County, defendants, and a certified class of plaintiffs in settlement of the ease of Sanders, et al. v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, et al., 872 F.Supp. 216 (W.D.Pa.1994) (“Sanders ”). South Fayette originally advanced the allegations set forth in the instant complaint in the ease of Allegheny County Housing Authority v. Township of South Fayette, Civil Action 98-1005 (W.D.Pa.), as a counterclaim which it filed along with a motion for a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction. On September 16, 1998, Judge Robert J. Cindrich of this court entered an order in that case severing the counterclaim and motion for injunctive relief from it and transferring them to this member of the court as a matter related to Sanders. The following day this court held a status conference on the matter. At that conference the court noted that ACHA’s impending acquisition of the South Fayette townhouses was in compliance with the provisions of the Sanders Decree and that since the injunction sought by South Fayette obviously would impede and otherwise adversely affect the rights and obligations of all of the parties to that Decree they were indispensable parties within the meaning of Rule 19, Fed.R.Civ.P., 28 U.S.C. (1998), in the South Fayette suit. Accordingly, an order was entered directing South Fayette to file a complaint as an independent civil action and to join as defendants all of the parties in the Sanders case. This has been done. Presently before the court are motions filed by ACHA, HUD and the Sanders class plaintiffs, all defendants in the instant case (“defendants”), to dismiss the complaint for lack of standing and/or failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted, and plaintiffs motion for mediation/neutral evaluation and motion to hold action in abeyance. For the reasons set forth below, the defendants’ motions will be granted and plaintiffs motions will be denied. In 1988, Cheryl Sanders and others as class action plaintiffs commenced an action at Civil Action 88-1261 against HUD, the County, ACHA, and the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County, seeking to redress the alleged establishment of de jure racial segregation in public and other federally assisted housing in Allegheny County and the alleged perpetuation of and failure to remediate that segregation in violation of the United States Constitution and statutes set forth in the complaint. A plaintiff class subsequently was certified consisting of “all black current residents in, or applicants for, public housing assisted by the ACHA and/or HUD, who have been and continue to be denied decent, affordable, and racially integrated public housing opportunities.” See Opinion and Order, October 15, 1992, Document No. 187, in Civil Action 88-1261. As of December 1994, there were approximately 5,000 members of that class. Sanders, et al. v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, et al., 872 F.Supp. 216, 218 (W.D.Pa.1994). During the course of the litigation, HUD admitted that it had violated the Fair Housing Act, as amended, 42 U.S.C. § 3601, § 3608(e)(5), due to its past failure to administer local federal housing programs in a manner designed to achieve the goals of the Act and to eliminate the vestiges of discrimination in those housing programs. “In addition, in a Final Investigative Report resulting from a 1991 compliance review of the ACHA, HUD made findings that the ACHA was in violation of Title VI [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] and the regulations thereunder for the creation and perpetration of racial segregation in its conventional public housing through its site selection, occupancy, waiting list, tenant selection and assignment, transfer, and other policies and practices, and that current and continuing practices perpetuated the intentional segregation practiced by the ACHA prior to 1965.” Sanders, 872 F.Supp. at 225 (matter in brackets added). In January of 1994, HUD assembled a committee whose members had expertise in HUD’s programs to develop a desegregation plan for Allegheny County. Id. at 218. That plan served as the basis for the defendants’ negotiated settlement agreement. Id. The settlement agreement created by the Sanders parties was presented to the court as a Consent Decree (“Decree”). After extensive notice by newspaper publication and approximately 9,455 direct mailings of the provisions of the Consent Decree and of the right to file timely objections thereto, a hearing was held on December 12, 1994. At that hearing only one person appeared to express disapproval of the proposed settlement Decree, and it was approved as the final resolution of the lawsuit. Id. at 217-23. The Decree was entered, inter alia, with the express approval of the Secretary of HUD (“Secretary”) and after the issuance of Executive Order No. 12892 and an accompanying Memoranda of the President, 59 F.R. 2939 and 8513, reprinted at 42 U.S.C.A. § 3608. Although the Decree is designed “to decrease the level of racial spacial separation in federally assisted housing programs and the private housing market in Allegheny County, and to increase desegregative housing choices and opportunities for class members and other low-income persons,” its purposes are much broader, and include the improvement of “black communities in which a substantial number of federally subsidized units are sited ... [which] generally have undergone decline and disinvestment.” Sanders, 872 F.Supp. at 218, 221. The Decree contains nine sections which address the various aspects of the County’s federally assisted housing programs in which the discriminatory practices giving rise to the lawsuit and the admission and findings of liability occurred and sets forth directives and standards which are designed to implement and achieve the objectives of the Decree. Id. at 218-20. It also provides for the creation of a Task Force whose duties include the responsibility to coordinate the selection and approval of sites for new and replacement units of public housing and to assist HUD in fulfilling the obligations imposed on it under the Fair Housing Act with regard to the County’s ongoing housing programs. Id. at 227-28. The Decree specifically enjoins the County, ACHA and HUD “to implement the Decree and take all actions necessary to fulfill its obligations.” Id. at 220. To insure compliance with the Decree, this court has retained jurisdiction for at least seven years. Id. Section III of the Decree provides for the acquisition and siting of 100 units of public housing to replace the units demolished at a previous County public housing site known as Talbot Towers. It provides that these units “and other new or replacement units must be scattered-site housing” placed in certain defined areas of the County in such a way as to provide class members with housing opportunities outside of racially identifiable and low-income impacted communities. Id. at 218 & 228. South Fayette’s complaint, in effect, seeks to prevent the defendants from complying with these mandates. The complaint sets forth the bases for the relief it seeks in six causes of action: (Count I) deprivation of federal statutory rights; (Count II) violation of public policy — retaliation against plaintiff by ACHA; (Count III) violation of the Sanders Decree; (Count IV) violation of Pennsylvania’s Sunshine law; (Count V) violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983; and (Count VI) a request for attorneys’ fees pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1988. With the exception of Count II, these causes of action are in all material legal and factual aspects identical to those set forth two years ago by the Borough of Edgewood in a complaint which it filed in this court objecting to the placement of up to eight units of public housing in its community. The Edgewood complaint was resolved as a matter of law by this member of the court in an opinion and order dismissing all counts of the complaint under Rule 12(b)(6), Fed. R.Civ.P., 28 U.S.C., for failure to state a cause of action upon which relief could be granted in Borough of Edgewood, et al. v. Henry Cisneros, in his official capacity as Secretary of The United States Department of Housing and Urban, et al., Civil Action 96-775 (W.D.Pa. Dec. 20, 1996). That ruling was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and affirmed without written opinion at 129 F.3d 1254 (3d Cir.1997). Accordingly, we rely heavily herein on our affirmed rulings in Edgewood. The Edgewood plaintiffs set forth the following bases for their suit: (Count I) violation of the Decree by failing to coordinate the selection of sites for replacement units and failing to complete a study of desegregative sites throughout the county; (Count II) violation of HUD regulations, including 24 C.F.R. § 941.201(e) (requiring cooperation agreements with a local body of government), 24 C.F.R. § 941.404(n) (setting forth certain procedures for submitting proposals to HUD), 24 C.F.R. § 941.501(b) (setting forth regulations pertaining to a housing authority’s acquisition of property which HUD allegedly violated by permitting ACHA to obtain an agreement of sale before obtaining final approval from HUD) and 24 C.F.R. § 941.502(d) (setting forth regulations pertaining to the costs of developing public housing and allegedly violated by HUD’s failure to determine whether ACHA’s estimate of the development costs was reasonable); (Count III) violation of substantive due process through the arbitrary and capricious placement of public housing in disregard of federal statutes and regulations and the plain language of the Decree; (Count IV) improper delegation by HUD of its powers to the representative of class plaintiffs; (Count V) violation of 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by all non-federal defendants; (Count VI) entitlement to attorneys’ fees under 42 U.S.C. § 1988; and (Count VII) violation of Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act by ACHA and the County. The Edgewood plaintiffs also contended that defendants had failed to complete a plan identifying the sites for the replacement scattered-site units, that defendants improperly were concentrating the units in the East End of Allegheny County in general and the Edge-wood Borough in particular, that the units were being placed without acquiring a cooperation agreement with the appropriate local governing body, that the method of obtaining an agreement of sale and then seeking HUD’s approval for funding was contrary to the applicable regulations, and that HUD had failed to determine whether ACHA’s estimate of the total development costs under the Decree was reasonable and did not exceed HUD’s estimate of replacement costs. The complainants in Edgewood further alleged that defendants had not coordinated the selection of the scattered-site replacement units and had “arbitrarily and capriciously lumped eight of the units in Edge-wood, a tiny borough which actually borders Braddock Hills and Wilkinsburg, two of the segregated areas which the decree expressly defines as ‘impacted’ municipalities.” Edge-wood Amended Complaint at ¶ 44. They also alleged that the defendants’ failure to develop a comprehensive plan to scatter the replacement sites “throughout the County rather than lumping twenty-three of the sites in a compact geographic area in the East End of Pittsburgh” had resulted in the placement of units in “the least appropriate region of the County in which to pursue desegregative opportunities” for class plaintiffs. Id. at ¶48. Finally, as the bases of injunctive relief, the plaintiffs contended that they would be irreparably injured if defendants were permitted to acquire privately owned real estate in Edgewood and convert it into public housing units because those units would no longer generate property or school tax revenues. They argued that monetary damages would be inadequate and that such damages would be impossible to measure because the loss of revenue would continue indefinitely into the future. They also averred that they would be injured by having to provide reduced municipal services to all residents despite the fact that those residents would continue to pay the same amount of taxes, or, if the borough decided to maintain the same level of services, taxes would have to be increased on all of its residents. Finally, they expressed the fear that the “influx of public housing units [would] depress property values.” Id. at ¶ 50. On December 20, 1996, this court issued the opinion and order referred to above dismissing the action with prejudice on the grounds that the Edgewood plaintiffs has failed to allege a legally cognizable injury-in-faet or to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed the order by judgment order on September 25, 1997. South Fayette is a first-class township in the County of Allegheny and is organized and exists pursuant to Pennsylvania’s Firsts Class Township Code, 53 P.S. § 55101 et seq. It is a township of approximately twenty-one square miles located in the southwest corner of the County and as of the 1990 census had a population of 11,313. Complaint at ¶ 1. Situated within the township is the so-called “Morgan Housing Center” (“Morgan”), a public housing project in operation since 1955. Morgan covers approximately twelve acres and consists of twenty buildings. Complaint at ¶ 8. The development originally had 149 units, but currently only fifteen families reside there. See Brief of ACHA (Document No. 8) at p. 7. The Morgan property has deteriorated and “ACHA submitted a demolition request for Morgan to HUD some time ago.” Id. South Fayette and the ACHA have been at odds concerning the deterioration of Morgan and plans for its demolition since 1992. This dispute resulted in citations and fines totaling $111,000 being levied against ACHA by a Pennsylvania District Justice at the behest of the township on June 4, 1998, followed by a suit brought in this court on June 9,1998, by ACHA to restrain the collection of those fines. That suit, referred to earlier in this opinion, is pending before Judge Cindrich at Civil Action 98-1005. On or about June 29, 1998, the Sanders Task Force identified six townhouses located in South Fayette and recommended that ACHA purchase the properties under the Decree. Complaint at ¶ 13. On July 22, 1998, counsel for class plaintiffs, not satisfied with the speed with which ACHA and HUD were implementing this recommendation and fearing that these properties would be sold to others if ACHA and HUD did not act promptly, requested that this court enter an order directing ACHA and HUD to comply with their obligations under the Decree and to move forward with the purchase of the six townhouses in South Fayette. After a conference with the Sanders parties, this court entered an order on July 27, 1998, directing ACHA to enter into purchase agreements for these properties, contingent upon HUD’s approval, without further delay. See Document No. 358 at Civil Action 88-1261. Thereafter, in compliance with that order, ACHA entered into purchase agreements for those units. Those agreements and housing units are the subject of this suit. See Addendum C to Motion for Injunctive Relief (Document 3). South Fayette and ACHA were in the process of settling their dispute regarding the “Morgan” fines when Township officials became aware of the Task Force’s intent to place six replacement units in South Fayette. Without notifying South Fayette, ACHA had made a formal submission to HUD requesting funds to purchase the six replacement units. See South Fayette’s Brief in Support (Document 4) at p. 10. South Fayette officials became aware of the purchase proposal on August 10, 1998, when they received an undated letter from HUD informing them of ACHA’s intent to purchase the units and inviting comment from South Fayette. The letter informed South Fayette “that HUD must determine if there is a need for such housing assistance, and if there is, will adequate public services and facilities be available in the area” and invited comments from South Fayette concerning the need for housing assistance and the adequacy of public facilities and services. Id. at ¶¶ 17 & 18. South Fayette advised HUD that the notice was undated, whereupon HUD forwarded a second letter to South Fayette dated August 19, 1998. Id. at ¶20. On August 17, 1998, South Fayette officials were informed that ACHA already had executed sales agreements for some of the properties and that closing dates were contemplated within thirty days of August 19, 1998. Id. at ¶22. On September 8, 1998, South Fayette delivered its comments to HUD outlining its objections to the placement of public housing at the proposed sites. See Plaintiffs Brief in Support at p. 11. On September 10, 1998, the Task Force met with South Fayette officials regarding South Fayette’s concern that sales agreements had been entered into prior to the expiration of the thirty-day comment period. South Fay-ette alleges that at this meeting the “Township was advised that neither ACHA nor HUD would consider any comments the Township would make and the properties were apparently not selected by ACHA or HUD but were chosen by the Sanders Task Force .... ” Complaint at ¶ 23. South Fay-ette filed its answer, counterclaim and motion for injunctive relief at Civil Action 98-1005 on September 11,1998. In the latter part of September HUD forwarded two additional letters to South Fay-ette notifying it of ACHA’s proposal to acquire three additional townhouses in South Fayette, bringing the proposed total number of purchases to nine. On September 30, 1998, HUD’s Pittsburgh area office forwarded a letter to ACHA granting “final site approval for the six scattered sites” initially selected in South Fayette. The letter further indicated that based upon HUD’s “review of the proposal information submitted, including comments received as part of the local government consultation process,” the six scattered-site units were “approved for purchase by the [ACHA], provided good title” could be obtained. See Exhibit to ACHA’s Response to Court’s Inquiry of September 17, 1998 (Document No. 19). On October 1, 1998, this court issued a memorandum and order denying South Fayette’s request for an immediate restraining order prohibiting defendants from acquiring the properties within South Fayette, the court finding that acquisition of the properties would not in itself irreparably harm South Fayette, whereas a default in the underlying agreements to purchase by ACHA would “in itself, inter alia, cause substantial harm to the Sanders program and adversely reflect on the integrity and viability of purchase agreements entered into by ACHA pursuant to the Sanders Decree.” See Document No. 18. In support of their motions to dismiss, defendants correctly note the substantial similarity of South Fayette’s allegations and arguments with those advanced in Edge-wood. Defendants then essentially contend that South Fayette has not set forth a legally cognizable injury, does not have third-party beneficiary rights under the Decree, lacks standing with respect to the asserted violations of HUD’s development regulations and otherwise has failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Defendants also argue that South Fayette’s substantive due process challenge should be dismissed because its complaint and briefs fail to set forth any basis which would support the finding essential to this claim; to-wit, that the decision to acquire the townhouses lacked a rational basis. Finally, defendants argue that Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act does not apply to the challenged procedures. In response South Fayette insists that (1) it has standing to assert a claim for diminution of property values within its jurisdiction, (2) it has a right to enforce the Decree, (3) it has a concrete injury arising from the defendants’ undertakings pursuant to the Decree, (4) the purpose of the Fair Housing Act is to assure that placing public housing within its borders will be done only with its approval, (5) the defendants’ actions pursuant to the Decree are arbitrary and capricious and in violation of various federal regulations, (6) ACHA’s activities in conjunction with the Sanders Task Force violate Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act and Right-to-Know Act, (7) the elimination of a portion of its tax base due to the acquisition of public housing within its borders constitutes a taking without compensation and a violation of due process and (8) ACHA has engaged in covert operations in an effort to retaliate against South Fayette. Despite plaintiffs apparent reliance upon the same theories which this court found to be frivolous and without merit in Edgewood, which was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, this court has provided plaintiff with the opportunity to be submit its own arguments and authorities in support of these adopted theories. Having now fully considered South Fayette’s complaint, its motion for injunctive relief, its brief in support, and its supplemental memoranda of law and brief in opposition, the court finds that South Fayette has failed to demonstrate that adequate grounds to support the relief it seeks exist, and concludes that its reliance upon factual allegations and legal theories substantially similar to those advanced and rejected in Edgewood is misplaced. Plaintiffs allegations and defendants’ challenges thereto raise a number of jurisdictional and substantive issues which must be addressed at the outset in resolving the instant motions. The well-settled fundamental doctrines and principles underlying those issues are briefly summarized below. “Article III of the Constitution restricts the ‘judicial power’ of the United States to the resolution of ‘eases’ and ‘controversies.’ ” UPS Worldwide Forwarding, Inc. v. U.S. Postal Service, 66 F.3d 621, 625 (3d Cir.1995), cert. denied, 516 U.S. 1171, 116 S.Ct. 1261, 134 L.Ed.2d 210 (1996) (citing Valley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & State, Inc., 454 U.S. 464, 471, 102 S.Ct. 752, 70 L.Ed.2d 700 (1982)). Cases and controversies are restricted to disputes initiated by “a litigant [having] ‘standing’ to challenge the actions sought to be adjudicated in the lawsuit.” Id. In order to have standing, a litigant must satisfy the constitutional and prudential components which are required in order to seek redress in a federal court. Id. (citing Wheeler v. Travelers Ins. Co., 22 F.3d 534, 537 (3d Cir.1994)). The three components necessary to satisfy “the irreducible constitutional minimum of standing” have been summarized by the Supreme Court as follows: First, the plaintiff must have suffered an “injury in fact” — an invasion of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical. Second, there must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of ____Third, it must be likely, as opposed to merely speculative, that the injury will be redressed by a favorable decision. Id. (quoting United States v. Hays, 515 U.S. 737, 742-44, 115 S.Ct. 2431, 2435, 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995)). “In addition to Article III standing requirements, federal courts have developed prudential standing considerations ‘that are part of judicial self-government.’ ” Id. (quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)). The prudential standing rules require that: (1) a litigant “assert his [or her] own legal interests rather than those of third parties,” (2) courts “refrain from adjudicating abstract questions of wide public significance which amount to generalized grievances” and (3) a litigant demonstrate that her interests are arguably within “the zone of interests” intended to be protected by the statute, rule or constitutional provision on which the claim is based. Id. (quoting Wheeler, 22 F.3d at 538). “The rules of standing, whether as aspects of the Article III case-or-controversy requirement or as reflections of prudential considerations defining and limiting the role of the courts, are threshold determinates of the propriety of judicial intervention. It is the responsibility of the complainant clearly to allege facts demonstrating that he is a proper party to invoke judicial resolution of the dispute and the exercise of the court’s remedial powers.” Bender v. Williamsport Area School District, 475 U.S. 534, 546 n. 8, 106 S.Ct. 1326, 89 L.Ed.2d 501 (1986) (citing Worth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 517-18, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975)) (emphasis supplied). Defendants also have moved to dismiss the counts of the complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6), 28 U.S.C., and argue that even if the allegations advanced by plaintiff should survive a standing analysis they nevertheless fail to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. On a motion to dismiss under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) “[t]he applicable standard of review requires the court to accept as true all allegations in the complaint and all reasonable inferences that can be drawn therefrom, and view them in the light most favorable to the non-moving party.” Rocks v. City of Philadelphia, 868 F.2d 644, 645 (3d Cir.1989). Dismissal of a complaint is proper only where “it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief.” Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957); Bogosian v. Gulf Oil Corp., 561 F.2d 434, 444 (3d Cir.1977), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 1086, 98 S.Ct. 1280, 55 L.Ed.2d 791 (1978). The question is not whether the .plaintiff will ultimately prevail; instead, it is whether the plaintiff can prove any set of facts consistent with the allegations of the complaint which would show that the plaintiff is entitled to relief. Jordan v. Fox, Rothschild, O’Brien & Frankel, 20 F.3d 1250, 1261 (3d Cir.1994); In re Meridian Securities Litigation, 772 F.Supp. 223, 225 (E.D.Pa.1991). While all factual allegations and the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom are to be accepted as true, “a court need not credit a complaint’s ‘bald assertions’ or ‘legal conclusions’ when deciding a motion to dismiss.” Morse v. Lower Merion School District, 132 F.3d 902, 906 (3d Cir.1997) (citations omitted). In ruling on a 12(b)(6) motion courts consistently have rejected “legal conclusions,” “unsupported conclusions,” “unwarranted inferences,” “unwarranted deductions,” “footless conclusions of law” or “sweeping legal conclusions cast in the form of factual allegations.” Id. at 906 n. 8 (citing in support Charles Allen Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1357 (2d ed.1997), Leeds v. Meltz, 85 F.3d 51, 53 (2d Cir.1996) (“while the pleading standard is a liberal one, bald assertions and conclusions of law will not suffice”) and Fernandez-Montes v. Allied Pilots Ass’n., 987 F.2d 278, 284 (5th Cir.1993) (“Concluso-ry allegations or legal conclusions masquerading as factual conclusions will not suffice to prevent a motion to dismiss.”)). Furthermore, although the focus in assessing a motion to dismiss is on the allegations set forth in the pleadings, “matters of public record, orders [and] exhibits attached to the complaint” also may be considered. Oshiver v. Levin, Fishbein, Sedran & Berman, 38 F.3d 1380, 1384 n. 2 (3d Cir.1994) (citing 5A Wright & Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure: Civil 2d, § 1357; Chester County Intermediate Unit v. Pennsylvania Blue Shield, 896 F.2d 808, 812 (3d Cir.1990)). It is well established that courts are permitted to consider matters of which they may take judicial notice, including records and reports of administrative bodies, Barron v. Reich, 13 F.3d 1370, 1377 (9th Cir.1994), and publicly available records and transcripts from judicial proceedings “in related or underlying cases which have a direct relation to the matters at issue.” In re American Continental/Lincoln Sav. & Loan Securities Litigation, 102 F.3d 1524, 1537 (9th Cir.1996) (citing, inter alia, Henson v. CSC Credit Services, 29 F.3d 280, 284 (7th Cir.1994)); accord Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. v. White Consolidated Industries, 998 F.2d 1192, 1196-97 (3d Cir.1993), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 1042, 114 S.Ct. 687, 126 L.Ed.2d 655 (1994); Kauffman v. Moss, 420 F.2d 1270, 1274 (3d Cir.); cert. denied, 400 U.S. 846, 91 S.Ct. 93, 27 L.Ed.2d 84 (1970). Plaintiff invokes this court’s equitable jurisdiction and seeks equitable relief, thus invoking the court’s equitable discretion. The resolution of such requests involve a delicate balance of equitable factors. Requests for injunctive relief are to be resolved on a case-by-case basis. To be entitled to injunctive relief four general requirements must be satisfied: the moving party must (1) produce evidence sufficient to convince the court that in absence of the relief she will suffer imminent irreparable injury; (2) establish a likelihood of success on the merits; (3) demonstrate that granting the relief will not result in greater harm to the other party; and (4) establish that granting the relief will be in the public interest. Doran v. Salem Inn, Inc., 422 U.S. 922, 931, 95 S.Ct. 2561, 45 L.Ed.2d 648 (1975); Campbell Soup Co. v. ConAgra, Inc., 977 F.2d 86, 90-91 (3d Cir.1992); ECRI v. McGraw-Hill, Inc., 809 F.2d 223, 226 (3d Cir.1987) (citing SI Handling Systems, Inc. v. Heisley, 753 F.2d 1244, 1254 (3d Cir.1985)). All of the above factors are balanced with regard to any final decision and the strength of any one factor may affect the necessary showing with regard to another. Marxe v. Jackson, 833 F.2d 1121, 1128 (3d Cir.1987). However, a clear showing of an imminent irreparable injury is an absolute necessity. Marxe, 833 F.2d at 1128 (citing Moteles v. University of Pennsylvania, 730 F.2d 913 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 855, 105 S.Ct. 179, 83 L.Ed.2d 114 (1984) and A.O. Smith Corp. v. F.T.C., 530 F.2d 515, 525 (3d Cir.1976)); ECRI, 809 F.2d at 226. “Establishing a risk of irreparable harm is not enough.” (emphasis supplied). A “clear showing of immediate irreparable injury” is required. ECRI, 809 F.2d at 226 (citing Continental Group, Inc. v. Amoco Chemicals Corp., 614 F.2d 351, 359 (3d Cir.1980)). “The ‘requisite feared injury must be irreparable — not merely serious or substantial,’ and it “must be of a peculiar nature, so that money cannot atone for it.” Id. (emphasis supplied) (citing Glasco v. Hills, 558 F.2d 179, 181 (3d Cir.1977)). Injunctive relief will not be granted merely to allay the fears and apprehensions or to soothe the anxieties of the parties. Nor will injunctive relief be granted “to restrain one from doing what one is not attempting and does not intend to do.” Campbell, 977 F.2d at 92 (citing Continental Group., 614 F.2d at 359). Also, plaintiff essentially seeks review under the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., of HUD’s approval of-ACHA’s acquisition of the six townhouses. The APA provides that a reviewing court “shall hold unlawful and set aside agency action” if it is “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.” 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). Normally an agency’s decision is not reviewable under the APA unless all administrative remedies have been exhausted. See generally Bethlehem Steel Corp. v. E.P.A., 669 F.2d 903 (3d Cir.1982). An exception is made, however, for matters commenced under the court’s equitable jurisdiction, 5 U.S.C. § 702, as long as the party invoking the court’s jurisdiction “has no other adequate remedy in a court.” 5 U.S.C. § 704. In addition, exhaustion will be excused where there is a showing of imminent irreparable harm or a clear showing of a violation of statutory or constitutional rights. Bethlehem Steel, 669 F.2d at 908. Judicial review of agency action is very limited and deferential. See Florida Power & Light Co. v. Lorion, 470 U.S. 729, 743-44, 105 S.Ct. 1598, 84 L.Ed.2d 643 (1985). An agency’s decision generally is “entitled to a presumption of regularity.” Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402, 415, 91 S.Ct. 814, 28 L.Ed.2d 136 (1971). This presumption does not, however, prevent a court from engaging in a probing in-depth review of the agency action at hand. Id. In reviewing an agency action, a court is required to determine “whether the decision was based on a consideration of the relevant factors and whether there has been a clear error of judgment.” Id. at 416., 91 S.Ct. 814 In order to meet this standard an agency is required to “examine the relevant data and articulate a satisfactory explanation for its action including a ‘rational connection between the facts found and the choice made.’ ” Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Assn. of U.S. v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856, 77 L.Ed.2d 443 (1983). A court is not empowered to substitute its judgment for that of the agency. Id. Nevertheless, an agency’s decision of “less than ideal clarity” should be upheld “if the agency’s path may reasonably be discerned.” Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Assn., 463 U.S. at 43, 103 S.Ct. 2856. A federal agency is bound to follow its own regulations. United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 695-96, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039 (1974). Failure on the part of an agency to act in compliance with its regulations is fatal to its actions. Kelly v. Railroad Retirement Board, 625 F.2d 486, 492 (3d Cir.1980). Likewise, actions which are not undertaken in accordance with the law are null and void. 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A); Frisby v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, 755 F.2d 1052, 1056 (3d Cir.1985). A reviewing court is required to set aside agency action if it finds that such action was taken without consideration of the relevant factors underlying the policies, purposes and goals set forth in the applicable statute. Frisby, 755 F.2d at 1057. Finally, it is now settled that a person or entity who was not a party to a prior proceeding resulting in a consent decree may initiate proceedings in a separate action to challenge actions taken pursuant to the consent decree where those actions may support a claim for violation of constitutional rights or other federal law, including the statute under which the consent decree was entered. See Martin v. Wilks, 490 U.S. 755, 109 S.Ct. 2180, 104 L.Ed.2d 835 (1989). As a Matter of Law, the Municipalities of Allegheny County do not Suffer Legally Cognizable Injury by the Loss of Tax Revenues Resulting From A Housing Authority’s Acquisition of Private Property Like the plaintiffs in Edgewood, plaintiff avers that the placement of public housing within its border subjects it to irreparable harm because the public housing units will (1) no longer generate property or school tax revenues, (2) require the Borough to provide additional municipal services on a decreased tax base and (3) decrease the value of the surrounding private property with a corresponding loss in tax revenues. Based upon these assertions, South Fayette contends at each count of the complaint that it will be injured by the reduction of its tax base. Complaint at ¶¶28, 30; 39, 40; 50; 55, 56; 61, 63. It asserts that the loss of future tax revenues entitles it to injunctive relief because property owned by ACHA is tax exempt, ACHA has no obligation to make payments in lieu of taxes and this state of affairs will be ongoing. Id. at ¶¶30; 40; 50; 56; 63. It also argues that it will be required to provide increased municipal services while suffering a decrease in its tax base and that the anticipated decrease of surrounding property values will result in a correlated loss of tax revenues. In other words, South Fayette contends that it has a right to future tax revenues from private property situated within its borders and that a private citizen’s decision to sell that property to a county entity whose property is tax exempt by operation of state law when that property is used in conjunction with a federal program injures the township in a manner which is redressi-ble by judicial order. The tax revenue injuries asserted by plaintiff do not constitute a legally cognizable injury which confers standing. The six single-family housing units have been acquired by the Allegheny County Housing Authority. ACHA was created under Pennsylvania’s Housing Authorities Law, 35 P.S. § 1544(a); see also City of Philadelphia v. Lead Industries Association, 994 F.2d 112, 118 (3d Cir.1993) (a housing authority is a public body, corporate and politic, exercising the public powers of the Commonwealth as an agency thereof). Thus, ACHA is a Commonwealth agency. See 35 P.S. § 1550; City of Philadelphia, 994 F.2d at 119. ACHA’s powers “include all powers necessary or appropriate to carry out and effectuate the purpose and provisions of [the Housing Authorities Law] including ... [the power] to cooperate with any city, county, regional, Federal or other ageneyf;] to cooperate with and act as agent of the Federal Government for the public purposes set out in [the Housing Authorities Law] in connection with the acquisition, construction, operation or management of any housing project, or part thereof[;] to purchase, ... acquire by gift, grant, bequest, devise, or otherwise, any real or personal property ... from any person, firm, corporation, municipality or government!;] and to own, hold clear, and improve real property.” 35 P.S. § 1550(d), (g), (m), & (p). Once an Authority has acquired property in accordance with the legislative authority just cited, the following applies: [t]he property of an Authority is declared to be public property used for essential public and governmental purposes and such property of an authority shall be exempt from all taxes and special assessments, except school taxes, of the City, the County, the Commonwealth, or any political subdivision thereof; provided, however, that, in lieu of such taxes or special assessments, an authority may agree to make payments to the City or the County, or any such political subdivision, for improvements, services, and facilities by such City, County or political subdivision for the benefit of the housing project or the persons residing on or occupying such premises, but in no event shall such payments exceed the estimated cost to such City, County or political subdivision of the improvements, services or facilities to be so furnished. 35 P.S. § 1563. Thus, the loss of future tax revenue from an authority’s acquisition of property is mandated by state law and reflects Pennsylvania’s expressed public policy. It follows, therefore, that an authority’s acquisition of private property for public housing in accordance with the statutory authority to do so and the concomitant statutory loss of future tax revenue to the affected political subdivision does not in itself constitute a cognizable legal injury which entitles that political subdivision to obtain judicial relief. It follows that a municipality lacks standing to assert claims for judicial redress based upon this aspect of Pennsylvania’s public policy or that it states a claim upon which relief can be granted when it seeks judicial relief for such “injury.” Of course, it would be a different matter if the acquisition of property by an authority was not in accordance with the legislative authority granted to it. But the records in the Sanders case which we are entitled to consider in ruling on the defendants’ 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, see authorities cited at pp. 593-594, supra, conclusively demonstrate that the South Fayette Township townhouse acquisitions by the ACHA were made pursuant to the Sanders Decree, were made in cooperation with a federal agency, HUD, and were in response to a specific court order. See pp. 590-591, supra. Furthermore, the contention that placing six or nine single-family scattered-site units within South Fayette will decrease surrounding property values and thus injure South Fayette through the loss of tax revenue likewise does not state a legally cognizable injury or sufficiently state a claim upon which relief can be granted. In addition to the fact that plaintiff has failed even to allege a basis for this assertion and has cited to no law or regulation which protects its claimed interest in future tax revenues under these circumstances, this precisely is the type of bald contention the court may reject in considering a 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss, see discussion supra at p. 593, and we do. Moreover, it is worth emphasizing that plaintiffs asserted injury arises from the defendants’ actions undertaken for the purpose of providing decent, safe and desegregated housing pursuant to specific state and federal public policy enactments which are premised on findings that such housing will result in substantial financial and other benefits to all communities, and an order of this court reflecting that policy and a finding that the Sanders defendants had failed for years to implement it. In light of the foregoing and the law which exempts such property from the taxing power of plaintiff, it follows a fortiori that any secondary loss of tax revenue to plaintiff does not constitute a legally cognizable injury. It thus is clear that as to this claim plaintiff has failed to identify a concrete and particularized legal injury which it will suffer which confers standing on it or which constitutes a claim upon which relief can be granted. The Municipalities of Allegheny County Lack Standing to Assert Rights Emanating From the Decree Similar to the arguments advanced by the Edgewood plaintiffs, South Fayette contends that it has standing to challenge the manner in which the Decree is being implemented. On the ground that it is an intended beneficiary of the Decree’s provisions requiring scattered-site development, it contends that the Decree gives it the right to resist the placement of public housing within its borders. Specifically, it asserts that the placement of scattered-site housing within its borders will create an improper concentration of public housing there and consequently will not fairly distribute the scattered-site replacement units among the 116 non-impacted municipalities in the County. It also argues that this concentration of units within its borders will deprive class plaintiffs of appropriate desegregative opportunities and will not provide housing which complies with the site-selection criteria established by the Task Force, thus making South Fayette an inappropriate municipality within which to place public housing. In Edgewood, the plaintiffs similarly alleged that the defendants’ failure to complete a county-wide comprehensive plan for the balance of the replacement units and their failure to coordinate the selection of the remaining sites had “arbitrarily and capriciously lumped eight of the units in Edgewood, a tiny borough which actually borders Braddock Hills and Wilkinsburg, two of the segregated areas which the Decree expressly defines as ‘impacted’ municipalities.” The Edgewood plaintiffs further theorized that “if a study had been conducted, as required by the Consent Decree, defendants would have a coherent plan to scatter the remaining 56 sites throughout the County rather than lumping 23 of the sites in a compact geographic area in the East-End of Pittsburgh,” an area which the Edgewood plaintiffs asserted was “the least appropriate region of the County in which to pursue desegregative opportunities” for the class plaintiffs. They argued that the Task Force decision to locate replacement units within the borough amounted to an “ad hoc approach [which] merely move[d] a number of HUD tenants ‘across the street.’” Edgewood Amended Complaint at ¶¶ 44, 46, 48. South Fayette essentially contends in a similar fashion that the Decree creates in South Fayette a right to insist that there be a proportional distribution of public housing units throughout the county and to ensure that the location of public housing best serves the interests of class plaintiffs and the County’s housing programs as a whole. It specifically asserts that because Morgan is within its borders and Morgan itself is situated on a census track identified in the Decree as an impacted location where scattered-site units cannot be placed, all of South Fayette becomes an “unidentified” impacted community, and, in light of this status, South Fay-ette has a right under the Decree to insist that any new or replacement units be located elsewhere. See Plaintiffs Brief in Opposition at pp. 5-6. Similar to the Edgewood plaintiffs’ argument that the siting of up to eight units in the borough amounted to an arbitrary move across the street, South Fayette also argues that “defendants have violated South Fayette Township’s rights under the Sanders Consent Decree because they have not fulfilled the duties of the Sanders Task Force in selecting sites under the terms of the Consent Decree.” Supplemental Memorandum of Law in Support (Document 9) at p. 12. It notes that the Decree at section III.B. requires the Task Force to choose among locations that provide desegregative housing opportunities in accordance with section VIII of the Decree. It points out that the “Housing Opportunities Analysis” section of the Decree provides in part: [i]n an effort to better ensure that class members may have housing opportunities in predominantly white neighborhoods which do not have a concentration of assisted housing and that are comparable with the number of housing opportunities in impacted neighborhoods, and/or predominantly white neighborhoods with concentrations of assisted housing, HUD will conduct a study of all assisted housing in Allegheny County. After an analysis of the results of this study, HUD will determine if there is a need to provide additional assisted housing in such neighborhoods to provide the desegregative housing opportunities. Id. at 13 (quoting Sanders, 872 F.Supp. at 246). Although South Fayette acknowledges, contrary to its contention that adequate studies have not been undertaken, that “the Task Force has identified 116 municipalities in Allegheny County which are referred to as ‘approved for single family homes purchase and multi-family, mixed financed developments’ [and] of that 116, nine include census tracks which are excluded from this approval,” it nevertheless argues that because it has “a census track which is excluded from this ^approval” within its borders, it is “an unidentified impacted community” and therefore the “spirit” of the Decree “does not contemplate South Fayette Township and the Task Force and ACHA should have excluded South Fayette Township from consideration for having an existing concentration of assisted public housing.” Id. at 13-14. In other words, South Fayette asserts that a proper analysis by HUD of a study of all assisted housing within the County would have resulted in South Fayette being excluded from consideration for new or replacement housing because the presence of an existing twelve acre housing development (which we note is on the verge of being demolished because both ACI1A and South Fayette in effect have found it to be uninhabitable) makes the entire twenty-one square miles of South Fayette a neighborhood containing a concentration of assisted housing. In addition to the illogic of its argument on this point, based on the law and reason set forth below, plaintiff lacks standing to assert such rights under the Decree for multiple reasons. First, it is a stranger to the Decree and since it is at best only an incidental beneficiary of its provisions plaintiff may not assert the rights of the class plaintiffs to further its interests, which are antagonistic to theirs. Second, it is speculative, to say the least, to assume that a favorable decision would provide plaintiff with redress. Thus, plaintiffs allegations fail to establish an injury-in-faet. In addition, plaintiffs allegations fail to demonstrate that it is within the zone of interests protected by the Decree, which was designed to provide the very type of housing which plaintiff finds to be objectionable. The law in support of the foregoing is well-established. “A consent decree ... is a contract founded on the agreement of the parties.” Vogel v. City of Cincinnati, 959 F.2d 594, 598 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 827, 113 S.Ct. 86, 121 L.Ed.2d 49 (1992); see also Dotson v. United States Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, 731 F.2d 313, 318 (6th Cir.1984) (“A consent decree ... is ... a contract that has been negotiated by the parties____”); Berger v. Heckler, 771 F.2d 1556, 1564 (2d Cir.1985) (same). The construction of a consent decree is a question of law. Berger, 771 F.2d at 1568. As with other contracts, the intent of the parties is controlling and the agreement is to be construed to preserve the position for which the parties bargained. Vogel, 959 F.2d at 598; see also United States v. ITT Continental Baking Co., 420 U.S. 223, 238, 95 S.Ct. 926, 43 L.Ed.2d 148 (1975) (a consent decree is to be construed for enforcement purposes as a contract and in accordance with the parties’ intent as reflected within the four corners of the instrument). A court “is not entitled to expand or contract the agreements of the parties as set forth in the consent decree ... and the explicit language of the decree is given great weight.” Berger, 771 F.2d at 1568. Deference is to be given to the plain meaning of language employed and the normal usage of the terms selected by the parties. Id. (citing United States v. Atlantic Refining Co., 360 U.S. 19, 22-23, 79 S.Ct. 944, 3 L.Ed.2d 1054 (1959)). Likewise, the circumstances leading to the formation of the consent decree provide the context within which the parties’ intent is to be ascertained. Id. (citing ITT Continental Baking Co., 420 U.S. at 238, 95 S.Ct. 926). It likewise is well established that a third party who is not a party to the contract may assert rights under it only where the instrument demonstrates that the third-party was an intended beneficiary. Hook v. State of Arizona, Dept. of Corrections, 972 F.2d 1012, 1014 (9th Cir.1992) (enforcement of consent decrees is governed by the established contract principle that non-parties may enforce an agreement only where they are intended third-party beneficiaries); see also Rafferty v. NYNEX Corp., 60 F.3d 844, 849 (D.C.Cir.1995) (party who is not an intended third-party beneficiary lacks rights to enforce a consent decree); Aiken v. City of Memphis, 37 F.3d 1155, 1167 (6th Cir.1994); Beckett v. Air Line Pilots Assn., 995 F.2d 280, 288 (D.C.Cir.1993); Berger, 771 F.2d at 1564; Guy v. Liederbach, 501 Pa. 47, 459 A.2d 744, 751 (Pa.1983); Hrushka v. State, Dept. of Public Works and Highways, 117 N.H. 1022, 381 A.2d 326, 327 (N.H.1977); County of Nassau v. Owens, 444 U.S. 980, 100 S.Ct. 483, 62 L.Ed.2d 407 (1979) (considering common law regarding third-party beneficiaries in discussion of contract governed by federal law); Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 302 (1979) (setting forth distinction between intended and incidental beneficiaries). In contrast, “[a]n incidental beneficiary is a beneficiary who is not an intended beneficiary.” Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 302(2) (1979). Incidental beneficiaries lack standing to enforce a consent decree. Hook, 972 F.2d at 1015. A two-part test is utilized to determine whether one may claim intended third-party beneficiary status: (1) the recognition of the beneficiary’s right must be appropriate to effectuate the intention of the parties and (2) the circumstances must indicate that the promisee intended to give the beneficiary the benefit of the promised performance. See Guy, 459 A.2d at 751; Scarpitti v. Weborg, 530 Pa. 366, 609 A.2d 147, 150 (Pa.1992) (“A party becomes a third party beneficiary only where both parties to the contract express an intent to benefit the third party in the contract itself ... unless, the circumstances are so compelling that recognition of the beneficiary’s right is appropriate to effectuate the intention of the parties and ... the circumstances indicate that the promisee intends to give the beneficiary the benefit of the promised performance.”). “Under settled principles of federal common law, the third party may have enforceable rights under a contract if the contract was made for his direct benefit.” Holbrook v. Pitt, 643 F.2d 1261, 1270 (7th Cir.1981). Where, however, a consent decree is entered by the government for the benefit of third parties in general, enforcement of the consent decree generally is limited to the contracting parties because in such circumstances the numerous third-party beneficiaries are assumed to be merely incidental beneficiaries without rights of enforcement. See Beckett, 995 F.2d at 288 (“Even if the government intended its consent decree to benefit a third party, that party could not enforce it unless the decree so provided.”); Restatement (Second) of Contracts: § 313(2) cmt. a (1981) (“Government contracts often benefit the public, but individual members of the public are treated as incidental beneficia-ríes unless a different intention is manifested.”); Hook, 972 F.2d at 1015 (third-party beneficiaries of a government contract are assumed to be incidental beneficiaries and are precluded from enforcing it absent a clear intent to the contrary); Hodges by Hodges v. Public Building Commission of Chicago, 864 F.Supp. 1493, 1509 (N.D.Ill.1994)(same); Rafferty, 60 F.3d at 849 (“Unless a government consent decree stipulates that it may be enforced by a third party beneficiary, only the parties to the decree can seek enforcement of it.”). The well-established correlative rule is that incidental beneficiaries lack standing to enforce a consent decree. Wang v. Gordon, 715 F.2d 1187, 1190 (7th Cir.1983); Moore v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board, 625 F.2d 33, 34 (5th Cir.1980); Cicirello v. New York Telephone Co., 123 F.R.D. 523, 526 (E.D.Pa.) (denying standing to incidental beneficiary where government consent decree did not contemplate non-party enforcement), aff'd 879 F.2d 855 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 934, 110 S.Ct. 326, 107 L.Ed.2d 316 (1989). The stated purpose of the Sanders Decree is “to desegregate the ACHA’s housing programs, to increase desegregative housing choices and opportunities for class members and other low-income residents of Allegheny County, and to decrease residential racial segregation and racial spatial separation for all residents of the County.” Sanders, 872 F.Supp. at 226. In furtherance of these objectives, the Decree requires defendants to replace the public housing demolished at Talbot Towers with 100 units of “scattered-site housing.” Id. at p. 229. The Decree defines a “scattered-site development” as a development of between one and twelve units in an area which is not racially identifiable. Id. at 226. The placement of these units is limited to “locations that provide desegregative housing opportunities in accordance with § VIII” of the Decree. Id. at 229. Section VIII of the Decree mandates that all replacement and new family public-assisted housing units “be sited outside of impacted neighborhoods and the following municipalities: Braddock, Braddock Hills, Clairton, Coraopolis, Duquesne, Homestead, McKees Rocks, North Braddock, Penn Hills, Rankin and Wilkinsburg.” Id. at 242. Thirty-four separate census tracks in the County are identified as impacted neighborhoods. Id. at 227. It cannot seriously be disputed that the acquisition of the units in South Fayette conforms with all restrictions specifically set forth in the Decree. Thus, as an initial observation it is clear that plaintiff has failed to identify any express provision of the Decree which has been violated by defendants’ decision to locate six to nine units in South Fayette. It likewise is clear that the Decree does not require any comprehensive distribution nor does it mandate that the selection of the site locations be made in such a way as to distribute them equally throughout the non-impacted municipalities or the County’s regions. Any such contention is convincingly refuted by the Decree’s provision authorizing 44 of the 100 replacement units to be located in Jefferson Borough, a single municipality located in the southern region of the County. No provision of the Decree can be read, as plaintiff would have it, to give them the right to demand that the replacement housing units be distributed in a particular manner among the non-impacted neighborhoods or municipalities comprising Allegheny County or to demand that public housing units be located in some municipality other than their own. Nor does any provision of the Decree suggest that HUD has delegated any aspect of its expertise or statutory oversight to these County municipalities in conjunction with the process undertaken by defendants to bring the County’s federally assisted housing programs into compliance with federal law. The parties specifically limited the enforcement of the Decree to the Sanders parties and provided that notice of enforcement proceedings was required only to these parties. See Sanders, 872 F.Supp. at 243-44. Primary responsibility for overseeing the County defendants’ compliance with the Decree and the Fair Housing Act was vested in HUD. Id. The Decree provides that the Sanders parties may seek to add another entity or person to the action only for the purposes of enjoining that entity or party from interfering with or frustrating implementation of the Decree. The Sanders parties also specifically contemplated that the County defendants would use their statutory authority to compel municipalities to assist with or refrain from interfering with the implementation process. See § III.C.2 and § IX.B & C, reprinted at Sanders, 872 F.Supp. at 229 & 243-44. In short, no provision of the Decree implies that any municipality will have any rights to claim third-party beneficiary status in conjunction with the scattered-site requirements or the de-segregative housing opportunities to be created by the Decree, nor does any provision of the Decree imply that the municipalities will have a right to dictate how the County’s public housing programs will be implemented throughout the County as a whole. Furthermore, South Fayette’s argument that it has been injured by the failure of HUD to analyze properly the assisted housing within the County and to exclude all of South Fayette in the selection of locations for replacement units is speculative, self-serving and illogical. The essence of this claim is that a proper analysis by HUD of all assisted housing in the County might have revealed better options for the Sanders class plaintiffs. South Fayette has not alleged that any of its regions and communities outside the excluded census track, i.e., the Morgan plan, are impacted economically or racially. Neither does it allege that the location of the units in South Fayette will deny the class plaintiffs the opportunity to live in a neighborhood which is not impacted by race and/or low-income, nor does it allege that the developments where the units are being acquired will be impacted in such a manner by scattering six to nine single-family units in them. Inst