YOUNGSTOWN — Mill Creek MetroParks says it will not appeal the decision made two weeks ago by Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that found the park system cannot use eminent domain to acquire property to build the final phase of its bikeway in southern Mahoning County.

Aaron Young, MetroParks executive director, stated Tuesday afternoon in an email that the MetroParks board “has decided to accept the local court’s decision and will not appeal.” The court decision came from Judge Anthony D’Apolitoand his magistrate, Scott Fowler.

The MetroParks’ decision apparently came as a result of Monday night’s MetroParks board meeting that included an executive session in which “purchase or sale of property” and “pending or imminent court action” were going to be discussed, according to the meeting agenda.

Young’s statement said the MetroParks board and staff are “incredibly proud of the award winning MetroParks Bikeway system that we’ve built up to this point. We also believe in the importance of being good stewards of taxpayer funds.” He said it was “with those guiding principles in mind” that the “board has accepted the local court’s decision.”

Young said the MetroParks administration “will begin to facilitate the return of over $3.4 million in previously awarded funds for the construction of Phase III of the MetroParks Bikeway.” When asked, he said: “Currently there are no alternative plans to complete the final phase of the bikeway.”

The decision apparently closes about five years worth of litigation started by the MetroParks to acquire the rights of way along a 6.4-mile section of a former railroad bed from Western Reserve Road in Canfield Township to the village of Washingtonville in Green Township.

The matter started with eminent domain litigation filed in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court in 2018 and 2019 against about a dozen property owners who own the former railroad bed that was sold to them about 30 years ago after the rail line was abandoned.

Some of the property owners challenged the lawsuits, in some cases to the Ohio Supreme Court and back to the common pleas court.

One of those property owners is Diane Less, whose family-owned property includes the former railroad bed. She has been a vocal critic of the MetroParks’ efforts to force her and other property owners to give up their land.

“For six years,these people have harassed us and put us through all kinds of paces,” Less said of the litigation.

The day of the oral arguments at the Ohio Supreme Court, she and her boyfriend got up early, drove to Columbus and missed a day of work, she said.

“It’s insulting as hell that they could do this,” she said, adding that she has been told she will get reimbursed for her legal expenses and the $10,000 appraisal of her property she had done to defend the litigation.

Less, one of the founders of Angels for Animals in Canfield, said now that it apparently is over, “What do we get for six years of being harassed? ‘Gee, you get to keep your farm that was yours to start with for three generations,'” she said. “Gee, thanks.”

She said she is glad she is not losing part of her farm, and “It would be really nice not to have to think about this anymore.”

Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler, who has expressed support for the completion of the bike trail, called Ohio legislation that attempted to stop Mahoning County from using eminent domain for a bike trail a “travesty,” though Judge D’Apolito set that issue aside in his Nov. 14 ruling after concluding the MetroParks did not have the authority to use eminent domain to acquire property for a bike trail.

But Ditzler wondered why the Ohio General Assembly could not “negotiate a resolution to accommodate completion of the “Lake to River bike path that has been promoted for 25 years.”

Ditzler added, “Returning the $3.4 million means that we will probably never have the opportunity again” to complete the Bikeway.