The battle of the Mill Creek MetroParks bike trail will soon be decided.

Attorneys for the Mill Creek Metropolitan Park District, along with Diane Less and her legal council, presented their oral arguments in the years-long case that was heard Tuesday morning before the Ohio Supreme Court.

The Park District's challenge was over an earlier appeals court decision that ruled the park couldn't use eminent domain to acquire property for its planned third phase of bikeway from Western Reserve Road south towards Washingtonville.

Less told 21 News that the final presentation before the court justices took less than 15 minutes.

Less said that the State Farm Bureau entered an argument on the property owner's behalf during the oral argument.

MetroParks is seeking 6.5 miles of right-of-way through property owned by several landowners in Green Township, including Diane Less, who is named as the defendant in the case, and other Green Township property owners.

Now the final decision rests in the Justice's hands. The decision could take several additional month's before the ruling is announced.

The park board claimed the lower court erred in its decision, which ruled in favor of Less and the other property owners on April 14.

In that ruling, the Circleville-based 4th District Court of Appeals found that MetroParks did not give a legal reason for acquiring the easement in the Less and Green Valley properties, another property that is involved in the lawsuit.

The park board said it began acquiring the property for the bikeway more than 20 years ago through the purchase of a former railroad bed. The 11-mile Phase I and II of the bike trail which runs from Niles to Canfield Township first opened in 2000.

Diane Less, who owns Paul Less Farm in Green Township, says she would be cut off from her horse trail at her farm and a family cemetery if the bike trail by Mill Creek goes in as planned.

The attempt to extend the bike trail impacts 12 property owners in Mahoning County to the Columbiana County line.

21 News reached out to Mill Creek MetroPark Commissioners for comment on today's oral argument but has not heard back as of the publishing of this story.