Conference set in hotel nuisance case

By: 
Larry Limpf

A pre-trial conference is scheduled for Feb. 1 in the City of Northwood’s public nuisance case against America’s Best Value Inn, 2426 Oregon Rd.
Wood County Common Pleas Court Judge Joel Kuhlman has set the telephone conference for 11 a.m.
The case was originally heard by Judge Alan Mayberry, who retired last month.
The court last March approved a motion filed by the city for a temporary restraining order against the hotel. The city argued the facility had become a nuisance and presented as evidence an extensive list of alleged health and building code violations and crime reports during a March 2 hearing.
“Plaintiff claims the defendant’s property constitutes a nuisance….” Judge Mayberry wrote. “They also claim that the property is a danger to the safety and general welfare of the public and guests at the facility. At the hearing, defendants did not dispute that the hotel was a nuisance; rather, they indicated that the public interest will not be met by closing the hotel and that many of defendants’ employees will
lose their jobs if this occurs.”
The restraining order didn’t close the hotel but directed the owners to correct the violations and prevent criminal activity.
Affidavits submitted by Tom Cairl and Joel Whitmore, the city’s police chief and fire chief respectively, claimed departments have responded to numerous calls the past two years at the hotel and warnings to its operators have gone unheeded.
“From May 1, 2018 through Dec. 31, 2019, the Northwood Police Department had its officers walk through the…facility 167 times in an effort to combat and deter crime,” chief Cairl’s affidavit says. “However, increased police presence was still not enough to deter the criminal activity…”
During that time there were 660 calls for service to the police and fire departments.
Shawn Desai, attorney for the hotel, said at the time the hotel owners have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in room renovations, furnishings, lighting, heating and air conditioning systems and security systems.

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