The city of Toledo and the Toledo Country Club have settled the city’s eminent-domain lawsuit to obtain a slice of country club land to complete a multi-use path along the Anthony Wayne Trail.
The settlement should allow construction of the path’s missing piece by year’s end, city officials said.
“During mediation, Toledo agreed to reduce the size of the take by a few feet all along the country club side, so the public right-of-way line is farther away from their utility shed and the take is smaller,” said Leslie Kovacik, a city lawyer. “This doesn’t impact the path — it is still in its original alignment.”
Tim Grosjean, a city engineer, said contractor Geddis Paving now is expected to clear trees from the right-of-way along the edge of the country club’s southwest corner, “then begin its actual work on the path in mid-October.
“We hope to complete it yet this year, weather pending,” Mr. Grosjean said.
Judge Gary Cook formally dismissed the condemnation case without prejudice Monday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court, “with the parties reserving the right to file an entry of dismissal within 60 days of this order.”
The judge retained “jurisdiction to enforce the settlement agreement reached between the parties.”
The multi-use path, intended as a dedicated pedestrian and bicycle facility, was laid out on the Trail’s east side between Glendale Avenue and the Chessie Circle Trail bridge over the Trail just north of the Ohio Turnpike.
Its construction was included in a Trail reconstruction project between Glendale and the toll road, with the Trail reduced from three lanes to two in both directions and shifted to the west to create space within its right-of-way for most of the path.
But narrower existing right-of-way and a slope rising immediately up from the curb on the Trail’s inbound side precluded building the path next to the roadway there, and the city sought to obtain a strip of country club land — about 0.5994 acre — to complete the path’s connection to the Chessie Circle Trail.
Unable to negotiate the acquisition, the city sued under eminent domain in 2021 and the country club countersued in January 2023. The latter lawsuit sought to block the entire path’s construction on the grounds that such a path was not allowed under the terms of the city’s right-of-way.
The country club also argued the path would be a safety hazard to its presumptive users, both because of traffic speeds on the roadway and the risk of wayward golf balls hitting people along the portion adjoining the golf course, and would violate Ohio Department of Transportation design standards.
After a bench trial in September, 2023, Judge Cook ruled Feb. 1 that the multi-use path was a legitimate use of the right-of-way the city of Toledo obtained from the state, which owned the former route of the Miami & Erie Canal, and complied with applicable design standards.
Matthew Harper, a lawyer representing the country club, said that while the country club “respectfully disagrees” with the judge’s ruling on the safety issues, the property valuation had become the only outstanding issue.
“The Toledo Country Club’s opposition to the city’s proposed taking of its property and the proposed multi-use path has always been based on the safety of Toledo citizens who will use the path while only a few feet from the high-speed traffic of the Anthony Wayne Trail,” Mr. Harper said Monday.
He would not say, however, how much the country club and the city had negotiated as a settlement amount, nor would Ms. Kovacik.
“I’m afraid we do not have information to share yet,” Ms. Kovacik said regarding both the settlement amount and what the city expects to pay Geddis Paving, the contractor that built all of the path except for the country-club portion during the summer, to finish the task.
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