The Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has ruled in the long ongoing battle over Mill Creek MetroParks and the park district's fight with property owners over a planned expansion of the Mill Creek MetroParks bike trail into Columbiana County.

The court ruled in favor of the property owners fighting the attempted use of eminent domain to take property from seven property owners to extend the current bike trail from Western Reserve Reserve Reserve south through Green Township into Washingtonville.

Diane Less said the extension would have cut right through her family farm. She's been fighting against this since the idea was first brought up 20 years ago. 

”It's a victory in the war, ” Less said about the ruling. “It's a security issue and it's a privacy issue like who wants people going through their yard?”

“This fight is very personal,” Molly Johnson, an attorney for two other landowners against the trail, said. “These are private residences and lives that are being interrupted.”

The battle over the 6.4 miles of land has been ongoing since 2018 but has been in the planning stages since Stage I and Stage II began constructing the 10.6-mile bike trail along the former abandoned Conrail rail line in Mahoning County.

Judge Anthony D'Apolito ruled that the park district did not meet the requirements to appropriate the land from the landowners.

"The creation of a asphalt trial that was going to disturb habitat, destroy forests, destroyed wetlands did not qualify as a conservation of natural resources,” Johnson said.

The court ruling noted that the Park District has more recently characterized the proposed appropriations for the purpose of the "linear park." However, the court stated that the clear purpose was to extend the current bike trail.

The park district board of commissioners was ordered to pay all court costs in the case.

All cases in the long battle over the parcels have been dismissed by the judge.

Mill Creek MetroParks Director Aaron Young told 21 News, "The Board of Park Commissioners is aware of Judge Anthony M. D’Apolito’s ruling in the aforementioned appropriation case(s) and will be conferring with legal counsel on potential next steps."

Attorneys said it's unclear if the park can file an appeal. If they do, some land owners say they will continue to fight. 

“When your right you prevail so I feel that were right and I feel that we will prevail,” Less said.