Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
The Ohio Sixth District Court of Appeals has ruled in favor of the Village of Luckey in the village’s effort to acquire 72.5 acres by the eminent domain process.
Village officials intend to develop a municipal water system on the site. Currently, potable water is provided to residents by private wells.
The appeals court ruling upholds a decision by the Wood County Common Pleas Court that ruled the village had followed the correct steps and complied with state law to begin appropriating the property.
T&S Agriventures, LLC, owned by Timothy Snyder, Patricia Snyder, Steven Snyder, and Beth Snyder, appealed the March 2024 decision by the common pleas court that determined the village had made a good faith purchase offer to the owners, meeting requirements set in the Ohio Revised Code.
In addition, the owners “failed to meet their burden of demonstrating bad faith, fraud, or an abuse of discretion by the village,” the appeals court ruled.
The village offered $525,000 to acquire the property – about $90,000 more than was listed in an appraisal report. The site includes a former stone quarry that covers about 30 acres and receives storm water and water from an aquifer.
Through T&S Agriventures, Tim Snyder and Steven Snyder purchased the property in 2005 and from then to 2021 made “substantial improvements to the property with the intention of developing the property themselves or selling the property to a developer,” the owners stated in a court filing.
The owners contended the village interfered with their plans to hold an auction for the property in September 2021.
They also challenged the amount of the offer of $525,000, saying it was “untethered to any objective – or subjective – data that would allow the appellants (T&S Agriventures) to evaluate it.” Because the appraisal had an effective date of Nov. 11, 2021, it didn’t “hold up or serve as a foundation for the good faith offer provided to appellants in September 2022.”
But the appeals court rejected that argument.
“In making this argument, appellants do not cite a single statute or case requiring the village to tie the offer to anything. Under the Revised Code, the village was expected to make an offer that was at least the same price as the appraisal. It is undisputed that the village’s offer was greater than the figure quoted in the less than one-year-old appraisal,” the court wrote.
The village has received a proposal from a consulting firm for the design of a water treatment facility capable of processing 250,000 gallons per day with a storage capacity of 125,000 gallons. However, the property owners argued the evidence presented by the village wasn’t sufficient to sustain the eminent domain action because village officials were unable to provide a timeframe for commencing or completing the project.
That argument was also rejected by the appeals court.
“Appellants do not provide, nor has this court found, any legal authority that requires an appropriating agency to have full funding for, or a specific timeline for the completion of, its projects before taking action to appropriate property,” the court ruled.
The quarry sits near the intersection of Gilbert and Luckey roads.
