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House-parkland overlap to be addressed in court
House-parkland overlap to be addressed in court
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
The Geauga Park District is headed to the courtroom to settle a dispute over a house that sits on parkland.
First Place Bank, of Warren, filed suit Nov. 18 in Geauga County Common Pleas Court, seeking a "prescriptive easement" for the house at 15150 Burton Windsor Road in Burton Township.
The bank seeks the easement to allow for the sale of the property. "Plaintiff is not able to freely market and sell the property because of the alleged encroachment of plaintiff's property onto the adjacent property," according to the lawsuit.
The suit says they home was built on the property around 1901 and an addition was added later. That addition extended beyond the property lines onto what was an old railroad right of way but now is owned by the park district.
Because the homeowners continued to use the property as theirs for 21 years, the suit argues that they have a right to adverse possession. "Plaintiff and prior owners of the property have used the adjacent property in a manner that is open, notorious, adverse to the property rights of the adjacent property owner, continuously for at least 21 years," it says.
Thomas Curtin, executive director for the park district, said last week that he was anticipating the action following discussions with the bank.
He said the district does not have the option of just deeding the property over to the bank. "We can't just give the property away," he said.
He said the bank needed to take legal steps to get use of the property in order to sell it.
The house was extended about 3 to 4 feet over the property line onto the old railroad right of way, which is now part of the Maple Highlands Trail.
Mr. Curtin said the old right of way is wider at the point where the house sits, meaning it will not affect the ability to keep the trail where it is planned. "It won't be that close," he said.
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