GREEN TWP., Ohio (WKBN) –- In the six-year battle between the Mill Creek MetroParks Board and several landowners, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court ruled Thursday in favor of the property owners fighting against eminent domain to extend the bikeway.
Landowners have been in court since 2018 after Mill Creek Metroparks wanted to use eminent domain to extend its bike trail six miles from Western Reserve Road through Green Township to the Columbiana County line.
“It has been a long fight,” said landowner Diane Less.
The extension would run through Less’ farm and the property of four other people in a move land owners said would be detrimental to their farms.
“The idea to use eminent domain so somebody can ride a bike…,” Less said.
Molly Johnson is the attorney on behalf of the landowners.
“What we feel is that this entire project was really an example of governmental overreach into the private lives and private properties of Ohio citizens,” Johnson said.
In Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Thursday, Judge Anthony D’Apolito ruled the park district did not meet requirements to appropriate the land, dismissing all seven cases.
Johnson, who is representing two other landowners in the case, said it’s because the scope of those requirements only extends to conservation efforts.
“The court’s ruling today said that the creation of this asphalt trail that would have destroyed habitat forest wetlands was not conservation of the natural resources,” Johnson said.
It’s the latest step in the six-year battle that has led the landowners from the common pleas court to the court of appeals and Ohio Supreme Court after it was initially ruled Mill Creek had the right to eminent domain.
The ruling could impact the scope of eminent domain in the state.
“Most of the landowners here that have been fighting for so long are fighting not just because this is their own life and their own property, but they’re fighting on behalf of the rights of all Ohio residents,” said Johnson.
However, it’s come with a lot of stress.
“Believe me, these legal fees are crushing — These are hardworking farm people,” Less said.
But this latest ruling doesn’t mean this is the end of the case. Mill Creek Park released a statement, saying they’re aware of the ruling and are working with their legal counsel.
“My clients are going to fight this until the absolute end,” Johnson said.
“It’s like a war and we’ve won a big battle and so, you know, hopefully, it’s the last one. But you don’t know what they will do,” Less said.
