YOUNGSTOWN — Attorney Molly Johnson tried to explain in simple terms Wednesday the conflict between the Mill Creek MetroParks and Green Township property owners opposed to being forced to sell some of their land so the MetroParks Bikeway can be extended to the southern border of Mahoning County.

At the end of the hearing, Magistrate Scott Fowler, who works for Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony D’Apolito, said he would take the matter under advisement and make a ruling in the coming weeks.

Johnson said the conflict is like a recipe for fruitcake — and the MetroParks did not follow it when they sued property owners about five years ago to secure the right to build the bikeway on a former railroad bed. It is owned by Johnson’s clients and their neighbors.

Johnson and seven other attorneys were in the courtroom to argue whether the MetroParks has the authority under Ohio law to acquire rights of way on the properties and whether the MetroParks has the necessity to acquire the rights of way.

Johnson said if the MetroParks did not “follow the recipe,” they don’t have the authority to build the next phase of the bikeway. The other question is whether “the world really needs fruitcake,” meaning the bike trail, she said.

Johnson said her clients and their neighbors believe the MetroParks “failed to follow the recipes” in Ohio law for using eminent domain.

One mistake was not informing the property owners of certain rights, such as having an appraisal done and the right to appeal, she said. “Only if Mill Creek MetroParks followed the recipe could Mill Creek MetroPark proceed” to filing the imminent domain lawsuits, she said.

There is a specific “recipe” in Ohio law that restricts the use of eminent domain by park systems for creating “forest reserves or to conserve the natural resources of the state of Ohio,” not build a bike trail, she said.

The MetroParks put nothing in its lawsuits referencing “forest reserves or the conservation of any of the things I just mentioned.” She added, “How is Mill Creek MetroParks conserving anything by paving an asphalt trail? They’re not and they can’t.”

She said an environmental study carried out by the Ohio Department of Transportation “specifically describes five endangered species whose habitat will be impacted by the creation of this trail. Those animals include the bald eagle,” she said.

The study also mentioned the “destruction of 9.3 acres of forest habitat, certain acres of wetland, certain acres of marsh, forested swamp,” she said.

She concluded, “Not only are we not conserving natural resources … the record is rife with admissions that we are doing the opposite of conserving natural resources, i.e., destroying natural resources,” she said of the plan to build the bike trail.

After all of the property owners’ attorneys had spoken, Stan Okusewsky III, who represents the MetroParks, addressed H.B. 110, which banned the use of eminent domain in Ohio counties the size of Mahoning, which he said is unconstitutional because it “does not apply uniformly” to all counties in the state and all park districts.

He cited an appeals court decision that went against the MetroParks in which the judges admitted that they were “constrained” to follow earlier rulings that allow creation of a bikeway “to the extent that it supplies a human need, contributes to the health and welfare and benefit of the community and is essential for the well being of such community and the proper enjoyment of its property.”

Elizabeth Farbman, another MetroParks attorney, told the magistrate that the bikeway through Green Township would complete the bikeway in Mahoning County. The first and second phases of the bikeway were completed years ago and travel through Austintown and Canfield townships.

“The point of all is to create and continue a linear park over and on real property that was historically used as a transportation corridor for freight trains for decades,” she said. “These are abandoned railroad beds. In this section, someone, previous owners, sold to adjacent landowners,” she said.

Using eminent domain to acquire rights of way to former railroad beds for bike trails “has been done countrywide,” Farbman said. The trail will be used to “hike, walk and utilize perhaps for people who use wheelchairs, buggies to transport their children and children to have a safe place to perhaps ride a bike rather than having to go out on a road that is quite dangerous,” she said.