Rails-to-Trails: Property owners appeal decision

STEVE SMITH
Press Staff Writer
Published November 22, 2002 12:09 PM CST

The owners of property along the proposed Ohio to Erie Trail line west of London have filed notice that they will appeal a Clark County judge's ruling that they have no interest in the abandoned rail line that passes through their property.

The notice of appeal was filed Oct. 28 in Clark County Common Pleas Court, as required by law, giving official notice that the appeal will be filed in the 2nd District Court of Appeals in Springfield. That court has jurisdiction since the ruling being appealed is from Clark County Judge Gerald F. Lorig.

The Madison County Commissioners, meeting as the county park board, were told Monday that the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails, a private organization headed by Wayne Roberts of London, had already begun cleaning up along the former rail line between London and South Charleston.

Roberts told The Madison Press that the preliminary site work was not inappropriate since the appeals rights of the property owners were about to expire.

"I really don't know why they haven't appealed yet," Roberts said Monday, but in fact the notice of appeal was filed in a timely manner and in the correct jurisdiction three weeks earlier, according to documents from the office of Clark County Clerk of Courts Ronald E. Vincent.

Columbus attorney J. Anthony Logan, who represents property owners along the trail in Madison County, confirmed on Thursday that his clients are appealing Judge Lorig's decision appropriating an 11-mile long strip of land to the county park boards for the bike trail.

The judge granted $75,000 in compensation, including $70,676 for the Norfolk Southern Railroad Corp., which, according to Lorig's ruling, is the actual owner of the property.

Logan's clients include John Dunkle of London and Steven J. and Donna Allison of Paint Township, who have a portion of the proposed trail about 100 yards from their back door.

They contend that the land should have reverted to them when the railroad abandoned the line years ago, but Judge Lorig disagreed.

While some property owners along the Ohio to Erie Trail have granted easements and apparently support the bicycle trail, the Allisons, Dunkle and others say they will continue to fight the project.

The Madison County Farm Bureau also is among those opposed to the bicycle trail, according to a resolution passed during that organization's Feb. 7 meeting of the board of directors.

"Property rights are a foundation of our local and state farm bureaus," according to the resolution, which opposes "the taking of private property by eminent domain for the purpose of bike trails."

The property owners filed a separate case in Madison County on the same issues but Judge Robert D. Nichols dismissed that litigation because Clark County Common Pleas Court had already claimed jurisdiction on behalf of the park boards in Madison and Clark counties. Logan has filed a motion asking Nichols to reconsider. The judge received that document this morning.

"We're analyzing whether we want to appeal the Madison County decision" as well, Logan said.

That appeal would have to be filed with the 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown, which hears appeals of Madison County decisions. The jurisdictional questions may have led to some confusion in the matter.

Roberts told the commissioners that the park boards made the $75,000 payment to the court clerks in the two counties on Nov. 14, as required by Lorig's appropriation order.

He said the citizens' group already was cleaning up the trail site by Saturday, adding that the group's members were "just happy to be moving forward.

"It is kind of like water building up behind a dam," Roberts said. "When it is finally let loose it is hard to stop."

Roberts and the friends of the bike trail apparently were unaware of it, but Logan's clients have not yet given up on holding the "water" back. Madison County Prosecutor Stephen Pronai said that raises a few questions.

"There's going to be problems" if the property owners win their appeal and improvements along the rail line have been completed, Pronai said Thursday. He added that the ongoing clean-up along the rail line is legal.

Judge Lorig issued his ruling, the park districts paid the railroad and the deed transfer already has been recorded in the office of county recorder Chuck Reed.

"It's already in the park district's name," Pronai said.

"Theoretically, they can do whatever they want to do on fixing the trail," Pronai explained.

But Roberts told the park board Monday that the trail could be completed by next summer and the appeal will take four to five months. The prosecutor said if the appeal is successful and the trail improvements have been partially completed, the two sides "would need to go back to court" to sort out the resulting complications. Contacted late Thursday, Wayne Roberts said he was unaware of the appeal and the organization might not have started clearing the trail if they had known.

He said the contractor moved four large dumpsters -- about 120 cubic yards of debris -- from the trail section in Union and Paint townships during the past week and has completed that task.

The group intends to continue a "light pick up" along the trial but no major projects are planned until spring.

"I think picking up the trash is the point we're taking about now," Roberts said, adding that the trail is "not open for access to the public yet."

He said also that it is important to "discourage dumping" and to control litter along the abandoned rail line.

Roberts pointed out that the money involved in the project, including the $75,000 appropriation ordered by Judge Lorig, is coming from the Ohio Erie Trail Fund, which in turn is funded by state and federal grants. Private donations also have been solicited to help with the project.

Improvements planned for the section of rail line involved in the lawsuit will cost approximately $2 million, though Roberts said, "We don't know the final cost."

Steve Smith can be contacted at (740) 852-1616, 1-800-282-3838 or by e-mail at news1@madison-press.com