YOUNGSTOWN — Judge Anthony D’Apolito and his magistrate have dismissed the eight lawsuits the Mill Creek MetroParks filed five years ago to acquire private land to build the final phase of its Bikeway in southern Mahoning County.

The ruling in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court says Ohio law does not authorize the Mill Creek MetroParks to use eminent domain to build a bike trail.

Instead, the law allows eminent domain to be used to “acquire lands either within or without the park district for conversion into forest reserves and for the conservation of the natural resources of the state, including streams, lakes, submerged lands and swamplands,” the ruling states.

The ruling notes that the park district has “more recently characterized the proposed appropriations as takings for the purpose of a ‘linear park,’ (but) the resolutions and lawsuits commenced in furtherance of those resolutions make clear that the purpose of these lawsuits is to extend the current bike trail from its southern terminus to near (state) Route 14 in Washingtonville.” Its southern terminus at Western Reserve Road in Canfield Township.

The ruling states: “In light of the plain language of (the law), is a bike trail or ‘recreational trail,’ or ‘bikeway’ a statutorily authorized taking for a park district?”

The ruling continued, “None of the parties have directed this court, nor has the court found on its own any cases in the state of Ohio which support or refute” the MetroParks’ contention that the law “is to be read broadly enough to include recreational trails (or bikeways) as a purpose for which park districts are authorized to appropriate private land.”

The court found that the law that grants governmental power to develop and maintain recreational trails does not apply to the park district because the park district is “not seeking to acquire the lands in question for the conservation of natural resources of the state for conversion into forest resources and never claimed to be.”

It adds, “In that the park district is only authorized to acquire lands for such purposes under (state law), they are not granted other powers, by statute or law, to acquire the lands sought here to construct or maintain (or extend) a bike trail.”

REACTIONS

When Aaron Young, MetroParks executive director, was asked whether the MetroParks would appeal the ruling, he stated in an email: “The Board of Park Commissioners is aware of Judge Anthony M. D’Apolito’s ruling in the aforementioned appropriation case(s) and will be conferring with legal counsel on potential next steps.”

Molly Johnson, an attorney for one of the eight property owners, called the MetroParks lawsuits “a classic example of governmental overreach into the private lives and private properties of Ohio residents.”

She said, “We agree that Mill Creek Park’s proposed construction of an asphalt trail — that would have destroyed wetlands, habitats and forest — cannot, and does not, satisfy the Ohio Revised Code’s ‘conservation of natural resources’ requirement.

“But more importantly, we stand by the principle that eminent domain is a limited governmental power to be used only for strictly necessary governmental purposes. A bike trail, no matter how pleasant, is not strictly necessary.”

She concluded by saying that the affected property owners “deserve to live uninterrupted lives.”

The ruling noted that it is not intended that the ruling “should be construed as an opinion as to the merits or demerits of the park district’s efforts to extend the bike trail from its current southern terminus. This court has frequently enjoyed the bike trail and lives to the south of its current southern end.

“This court’s obligation is to interpret and enforce the law of the State of Ohio on this issue and mindful of any attempts to appropriate privately held land by a park district must be strictly and narrowly construed,” the ruling adds.

The litigation over acquiring rights of way to extend the bikeway has gone in many directions with various rulings being appealed at various levels.

In the case of property owner Diane Less, the matter went to the Ohio Supreme Court, which sent it back to Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in July 2023, ruling that the state’s top court did not have jurisdiction to decide the matter because the common pleas judges should have held a necessary hearing in each case. Such a hearing determines whether there is the necessity for the MetroParks to acquire the property.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge John Durkin, administrative judge, later ruled the Less case was being consolidated with the seven other bike-trail cases under a case being handled by Judge D’Apolito’s court. Judge Durkin said each case “involves a common question of law or fact.”

That led to Judge D’Aplito and his magistrate, Fowler, to handle the eight cases. Fowler conducted two hearings and heard evidence before he and the judge issued Thursday’s ruling.

Regarding Thursday’s ruling, Less said she wishes Mill Creek MetroParks would “leave the landowner alone to live our lives in peace” and noted that parts of the bike trails in Columbiana and Trumbull counties use public roadways in places and Washingtonville Road near the former railroad bed the MetroParks is trying to acquire “has been been in use as a bike trail for over 20 years.”