Beachwood property owners meet with attorneys about McKelvey Lake concerns

YOUNGSTOWN

Property owners at the Beachwood Estates subdivision on the city’s East Side have stepped up their efforts to prevent a water utility company from successfully lifting land restrictions for possible oil and gas drilling there.

At a private meeting Tuesday at the Covelli Centre, residents gathered to discuss their next steps and hear from two attorneys about what could be done.

The group, comprising 39 property owners, was first gathered last week by Youngstown Councilman T.J. Rodgers — who also lives at Beachwood — to learn more about a court-issued summons each of them received between July 19 and July 20.

In it, Aqua Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Aqua America, which serves millions in nine states including Ohio and Pennsylvania, requested that the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court clarify a provision in an 83-year-old warranty deed for a 6-acre stretch of property north of the subdivision and south of McKelvey Lake.

The company wants its lease with Youngstown-based Eric Petroleum Corp. cleared of any title defects so it can capitalize on the mineral rights it owns thousands of feet below the ground.

At last week’s meeting, residents were confused about what the summonses meant and expressed fear over any potential drilling that might disrupt the peace of their community.

Alan Wenger, chair of the oil and gas law group at Harrington, Hoppe & Mitchell, which represents Aqua, said no drilling is planned anywhere near the subdivision or on the 6-acre parcel of land.

Eric Petroleum has asked Aqua to clear any title issues on the 6-acre parcel so it can transfer the lease to a larger operator for development. Wenger was unsure who that larger operator might be, saying it could be any number of companies operating in Eastern Ohio.

In 1930, Aqua’s predecessor, the Ohio Water Service Co., acquired the parcel in question from a farmer who owned it. Included in the warranty deed — a document that transfers property from one party to another — are land restrictions.

The restrictions do not address subsurface mineral rights. Instead, they provide for unencumbered access to the lake for domestic water use, views, fishing and other bans on building on the property.

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