Friday, December 14, 2001
LISBON -- A Columbiana County judge has scrapped a county water district's decision to take private land to build a water treatment plant that could serve a proposed $600 million power plant.
Judge David Tobin of common pleas court has ruled that Buckeye Water District's August resolution to take Peter Mowad's property through eminent domain was invalid because the district failed to comply with a public meeting notification requirement.
The water district's bylaws have no provision providing for advance notification of its meetings if such notification is requested, the judge determined.
Ohio law mandates that measures adopted in violation of the advance notification requirement must be declared invalid, Judge Tobin said.
Steve Polen, water district manager, said Thursday the agency will incorporate the notification rule into its bylaws and it will again weigh a measure to take Mowad's land.
Mowad's nearly 157 acres near McIntosh and Township Line roads in Madison Township are needed as a site on which to build a new water treatment plant, the water district has determined.