Thursday, February 23, 2012
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
A Boardman couple will continue their fight against Ohio Edison on a different legal track, after the state’s high court ruled that the Public Utilities Commission did not have jurisdiction in the matter.
Ohio Edison wants Thomas and Derrell Wilkes to move an above-ground swimming pool and storage shed because of their proximity to the electric company’s 69,000-volt electric- transmission line.
“Regardless of when the issue was discovered, the fact stands that the pool encroaches on a transmission easement that was in place long before the house was built or the pool was installed,” Tricia Ingraham, a spokeswoman for the company, said in a released statement. “These easements exist to preserve public safety and electric reliability, and we’re pleased the Ohio Supreme Court addressed the safety concerns related to this case.”
But the Wilkeses are questioning whether the structures really impose on the company’s easement.
“There’s been no proof of any actual interference with Ohio Edison’s right to run electricity,” said Brett M. Mancino, legal counsel for the couple.
The situation arose in 2008, when Ohio Edison informed the Wilkeses that their pool and shed — in place for about 15 years, Mancino said — were closer to the company’s transmission line than was permitted under the National Electrical Safety Code.
Ohio Edison subsequently filed suit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, seeking an order to enforce their easement claim.
The Wilkeses, in response, filed a complaint with PUCO, asking commissioners to order the utility company to relocate its power line.
PUCO dismissed the compliant at the request of Ohio Edison, which argued that the commission “did not have jurisdiction over the matter because it did not require technical analysis of public-utility law or regulations, but merely raised a question of competing property rights that must be resolved by a court,” according to documents.
The Wilkeses appealed the decision to the Ohio Supreme Court, which sided with PUCO Wednesday.
But the legal wrangling is far from over. Mahoning County Common Pleas Court sided with Ohio Edison on the easement claim, a decision that Mancino said he will appeal.