Landowners in MetroParks eminent domain suits take victory lap while counting losses

COLUMBUS — Days like Thursday "make the job really worth it," said state Rep. Al Cutrona.

Early Thursday, Gov. Mike DeWine signed off on the state's new $75 billion biennial budget, which included a provision prohibiting the Mill Creek MetroParks from appropriating property from several Green Township-area landowners, in order to complete a 100-mile, multi-county bike trail.

Though the governor also made more than a dozen line-item vetoes, that provision wasn't one of them.

Cutrona, of Canfield, R-59th, who inserted the amendment into the budget bill, said Thursday was "a great day for our Valley; a big win for the little guys against big government."

The MetroParks has for years sought permanent easements for about 30 acres of private property for the bike trail — most of them along abandoned rail lines; some of them cross that land or come near private residences — and used eminent domain powers to take disagreeable landowners to court.

Cutrona's simple amendment prohibits park districts from appropriating property for recreational trails for the next five years — enough time to give "everybody an opportunity to really sit down and be on even footing and [for] everybody to have a seat at the table and to work through these things," Cutrona told Mahoning Matters.

"It just needs to be equitable in the process. It gives everyone an opportunity to sit down and see what the next direction is."

Barbara Cameron, whose 158-acre family farm would be effectively split in half by the 6-acre-long proposed trail, told Mahoning Matters she expects her family will have to continue to "fight for our rights as landowners."

"We are not against the bike trail. We just want to negotiate with them. That is all we have wanted all along," she said.

Cutrona's provision seems specifically tuned for Mahoning County, as it applies to counties with populations of between 220,000 and 240,000, according to their most recent 10-year census. Mahoning County reported 238,823 residents in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Aaron Young, MetroParks executive director, in a statement Thursday said:

"It is short-sighted legislative provisions, such as the targeted, unconstitutional eminent domain provision that was included in the recently approved state budget, that continue to keep the Mahoning Valley community from being viewed in the same progressive manner as those in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

"Mill Creek MetroParks will continue to work diligently in providing Mahoning County with the finest in park, recreational, educational and open space moving forward just as we have for 130 years."

Mill Creek officials have long held their portion of the overall 100-mile trail connecting Lake Erie to the Ohio River — which has been in development now for decades — would be an economic driver for the region and a tourist attraction.

In a Tuesday interview with Mahoning Matters, Young suggested the park district would seek a constitutional challenge to Cutrona's amendment, as its eminent domain powers are granted by the state's constitution, not by statute — even before reconsidering the bike trail's proposed route to bypass the now-protected properties.

"The MetroParks' stance all along has been that eminent domain, as a topic, deserves full debate in both the House and Senate," Young said Tuesday. "It really isn't something that should be addressed in an add-on in the state budget.

"Any amendment that negatively affects the MetroParks' utilization of a constitutional authority would ultimately need to be challenged."

When asked about that potential challenge, Cutrona said he intends on staying in his legislative lane and letting the judiciary adjudicate.

About half of the MetroParks' easement cases in Mahoning County court have been resolved. Weeks ago, a jury sided with the MetroParks over Tom Hough, a 54-year-old Green Township man who's lived on his family's 11-acre property since he was a child.

The MetroParks sought 8.4 acres of that, he said. But over the years Hough has come to rely on the land for income. When his 42-year lawn care business slows down in the cold season, he said he would scrap the rail line's metal slag and sell its dirt as fill. He also used the nearby timber to heat his home — to "save a few dollars."

"I fixed my life around that piece of property," he told Mahoning Matters Thursday. "If [the new amendment] cannot help me out, I'm really screwed because Mill Creek Park didn't give me a damn dime for any of my materials."

While the MetroParks' proposed easement means Hough still owns the acreage, he can't touch it or use the resources there. Nor has he been able to since the case went to court two years ago, which he said "hurt me immensely."

He claims the judgment has also smashed his nest egg.

During court proceedings, as a debate arose on how to value the leftover dirt and slag along Hough's portion of the rail line, Hough said a testifying merchant estimated it at several hundreds of thousands of dollars — an expert appraisal the MetroParks argued was "wholly unreliable" and based around certain speculations.

After three days of hearings, the jury sided with the MetroParks and Hough got only about $68,000 — $5,000 more than the district initially offered.

Even if he were to sell the property and move, it no longer has enough frontage by township standards for the new owners to build, Hough said.

Cutrona told Mahoning Matters it's testimony like Hough's that "speaks volumes about how important this legislation is."

Cutrona introduced similar legislation earlier this year, which was ultimately pared down to a budget bill amendment. But it was his predecessor, former state Rep. Don Manning, who first waded into the issue in 2019. He sponsored similar legislation before his death in March 2020.

Shortly after taking office, Cutrona said he set roundtables with affected landowners. While drafting the bill, he said he coordinated with MetroParks organizations across the state. They eventually warmed to the idea of using a population-based mechanism in the amendment, he said.

When he met back with the Mill Creek district upon the bill's re-introduction, "they were not pleased," Cutrona said.

"Ultimately, my job is to listen to my constituents and at the end of the day, that's who I represent," he said.

Green Township farm owner Diane Less, from whom the district sought two acres — an easement which would cut off more than 30 acres of tillable land from her main property — said the governor's Thursday approval was "almost unbelievable, actually." But she expects the MetroParks, armed with a passive income of county tax dollars, will continue to fight.

"I think it's wonderful," Hough added about the amendment. "That was something that needed to be done years ago. No one should have to put up with the bull**** that we went through from day one."

But at this point, it's unclear to him whether the law change can help him get his land back.

Less said her attorneys have met with opposing counsel on the issue but on Thursday she wasn't sure where her two pending lawsuits now stand. She and others are still seeking some finality.

"The Green Township trustees, the Ohio House of Representatives, the Ohio Senate, Gov. DeWine and the Ohio Farm Bureau have all come out in support of the landowners," Less said.

"It is time for Mill Creek Park to leave us in peace."

This story was originally published July 2, 2021 at 3:52 AM with the headline "Landowners in MetroParks eminent domain suits take victory lap while counting losses."