Golf Village N., LLC v. City of Powell, Ohio

14 F.4th 611
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedSeptember 23, 2021
Docket20-4117
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 14 F.4th 611 (Golf Village N., LLC v. City of Powell, Ohio) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Golf Village N., LLC v. City of Powell, Ohio, 14 F.4th 611 (6th Cir. 2021).

Opinion

RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION Pursuant to Sixth Circuit 1.O.P. 32.1(b)

File Name: 21a0226p.06

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

GOLF VILLAGE NORTH, LLC; TRIANGLE PROPERTIES, INC.; GOLF VILLAGE PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC.,

Plaintiffs-Appellants, > No. 20-4117

CITY OF POWELL, OHIO; DAVID BETZ, in his official capacity as Powell, Ohio’s Director of Development,

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio at Columbus. No. 2:18-cv-00371—Michael H. Watson, District Judge.

Argued: July 22, 2021 Decided and Filed: September 23, 2021

Before: BOGGS, CLAY and KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judges.

COUNSEL

ARGUED: Joseph R. Miller, VORYS, SATER, SEYMOUR & PEASE LLP, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants. Yazan S. Ashrawi, FROST BROWN TODD LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees. ON BRIEF: Joseph R. Miller, Daniel E. Shuey, Christopher L. Ingram, Elizabeth S. Alexander, VORYS, SATER, SEYMOUR & PEASE LLP, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellants. Yazan S. Ashrawi, Jeremy M. Grayem, FROST BROWN TODD LLC, Columbus, Ohio, for Appellees. No. 20-4117 Golf Village N., LLC, et al. v. City of Powell, Ohio, et al. Page 2

OPINION

CLAY, Circuit Judge. Plaintiffs Golf Village North, LLC; Triangle Properties, Inc.; and the Golf Village Property Owners Association, Inc. (collectively, “Plaintiffs” or “Golf Village”) appeal the district court’s dismissal of their amended complaint against the City of Powell, Ohio, and its Director of Development, David Betz, sued in his official capacity (collectively, “Defendants” or “the City”). The amended complaint asserted takings and procedural due process claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, as well as a trespass claim under state law. The district court dismissed the federal causes of action with prejudice under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), declined to exercise supplemental jurisdiction over the state trespass claim, and entered

judgment. We AFFIRM. BACKGROUND Factual Background

Plaintiffs are three related entities that own, maintain, and administer approximately 900 acres of property in Delaware County, Ohio. The property was acquired in the late 1990s to develop a planned community known as the Golf Village Community. The Golf Village

Community is located within the City of Powell.

This is not the first time these litigants have been before us. Their prior appeal involved a zoning dispute. See Golf Village N. LLC v. City of Powell, 826 F. App’x 426 (6th Cir. 2020). In this case, Golf Village claims that the City has taken its property without just compensation or due process by building an entrance to a new municipal park on Golf Village’s private street system and refusing to appropriate certain private streets that the City intends the public to use to access the park. Plaintiffs allege that the city has converted the private streets into public roads and that the resulting vast amounts of traffic will make it impossible for them to limit use of their still-private streets, as well as cause wear-and-tear damage to the roads. Golf Village contends

that the City’s actions have diminished its right to exclude and its right to use and enjoy its

property. No. 20-4117 Golf Village N., LLC, et al. v. City of Powell, Ohio, et al. Page 3

Referred to as “Subarea G,” the portion of the Golf Village Community relevant to this case is a commercial development that has been divided into eleven separate parcels, one of which is directly owned by Golf Village. In a December 2003 document entitled “Supplemental Declaration of Private Roads, Related Maintenance Obligations, and Common Area Maintenance Obligations,” Plaintiff Triangle Properties noted that it would be “beneficial for the prospective owners of all eleven parcels to be able to have use of the private roads ... .” (Supplemental Declaration of Private Roads, Related Maintenance Obligations, and Common Area Maintenance Obligations, R. 57-3, Page ID #1199.) The Supplemental Declaration went on to state:

Triangle hereby declares that each owner of the eleven parcels ... , and the

employees, customers, and invitees of any of the businesses to be located on any

of the parcels, does hereby have a non exclusive permanent easement to use said

private roads for pedestrian and automotive ingress and egress to and from Sawmill Parkway.

(Id.) While Triangle agreed to construct the private roads, “[t]he maintenance (including snow removal), repair and replacement of the private roads, shall be the sole obligation and expense of

the owners of the parcels,” including Golf Village. (/d.)

In September 2004, the City approved a final plat for the commercial development. The plat stated that the private roads would remain a private responsibility. On the other hand, the document indicated that a lot would be dedicated to the City at a later time to be used as a park. In May 2010, Triangle transferred that lot—approximately twenty-three acres of property—to the City for a municipal park.

Construction plans for “The Park at Seldom Seen” were proposed sometime in 2017 and approved by the City in early 2018. The below image, copied from an exhibit to Golf Village’s complaint and as highlighted by the Court, shows the relationship between the commercial

properties and the City’s park as well as the roads at issue in this case: No. 20-4117 Golf Village N., LLC, et al. v. City of Powell, Ohio, et al. Page 4

CITY OF POWELL, OHIO P.N. 31942202051000 22.735 Al

TRIANGLE PROPERTIES P.N. 31931401001012 3153

TRIANGLE PROPERTIES PN. 3193140100101 | 315:

SAWMILL PARKWAY |_

INDEX MAP. SCALE: 1°=200°

(2017 Site Construction Plans, Am. Compl., Ex. A, R. 57-1, Page ID #1180.)'

As the plans above show, the private roads built by Plaintiffs were Market, Moreland, and Sheridan Streets. The plans also show that the entrance to the park is located slightly to the east of the intersection between Moreland and Sheridan Streets. The City’s construction plans stated that “[a]pproval of these plans is contingent upon the city securing an access easement to

the park from Seldom Road [sic] along Sheridan Street from the property owner.” (/d.)

1The Court has highlighted portions of the image to assist the reader. The park is outlined in green, with the entrance to the park marked with a green diamond. Sheridan Street, a formerly private road, which became public during the pendency of these proceedings, is highlighted in blue. Sawmill Parkway and Seldom Seen Road, which have always been public and whose construction preceded Plaintiffs’ development, are marked in orange. The private streets currently at issue in this case, Market Street and Moreland Street, are marked in yellow. The numbers in the image ranging from 3033 to 3154 refer to the parcel lot numbers, as designated in the final plat for the commercial development. (Final Plat, Am. Compl., Ex. B, R. 57-2, Page ID #1198.) The circled numbers refer

to construction landmarks within the park. No. 20-4117 Golf Village N., LLC, et al. v. City of Powell, Ohio, et al. Page 5

In June 2017, the City contacted Golf Village to obtain an ingress/egress easement from Seldom Seen Road over Sheridan Street. Golf Village refused. Despite the fact that approval of the plans, by their own terms, required securing an easement along Sheridan Road, the City finalized the park construction plan without the easement in February 2018. Moreover, in March 2018, the City told a construction contractor that “[t]he City of Powell has made arrangements for access ...

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14 F.4th 611, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/golf-village-n-llc-v-city-of-powell-ohio-ca6-2021.