Parkman Trustees Seek 181-Year-Old Meeting Minutes
BTE Properties LLC, of Middlefield, has made a little over 2.6 acres in the middle of Parkman Township the subject of legal action.
BTE Properties LLC, of Middlefield, has made a little over 2.6 acres in the middle of Parkman Township the subject of legal action.
Parkman Township Trustees spent part of their meeting May 21 trying to to determine how to comply with a public records request for meeting minutes from the middle of the 19th century.
According to a legal notice that ran in the May 16 Geauga County Maple Leaf, BTE Properties is asking for a Geauga County Court of Common Pleas judgment to “declare invalid and unenforceable” deed restrictions on a parcel at the corner of Main Market and Nelson roads.
BTE, which owns the parcel, is asking to be granted a “quiet title” to the irregularly-shaped Parcel No. 25-002900 “of land located at the intersection of Nelson Road and U.S. (Route) 422 (Main Market Road)” that borders to the east and south of Parkman’s town square where the picturesque, octagonal gazebo sits.
“The term ‘quiet title’ generally refers to any lawsuit that attempts to confirm ownership, fix a title error or settle an ownership dispute,” according to jonespropertylaw.com. “The end result of a quiet title lawsuit is a court order clarifying or confirming who owns the subject property. In other words, a quiet title fixes the chain of title.”
Trustees had plenty of questions regarding a letter dated May 18 from Hauser Law of Cleveland Heights retained by BTE.
The letter contains a public records request for all township trustee meeting minutes relating to the use or transfer of the property, all documents relating to the use of the property, all documents relating to the transfer of the property on or about Jan. 22, 2018, from Parkman Township to BTE Properties, LLC, all documents relating to the transfer of the property on or about June 7, 1843, from Simon and Nancy Perkins to Parkman Township through its trustees and all documents relating to the 1843 deed, including any restrictions for the use of the property.
The legal ad serves notice to the Perkins’ heirs that on April 16, BTE and ABC Development LLC filed the complaint to quiet title with Geauga County Court of Common Pleas.
The deed was issued by the Perkins couple in 1848, recorded in 1857 and restated in a deed in 2018. County records state “…(Parkman Township) Trustees and their successors in office shall hold said land for the inhabitants of said township to use as a public square or commons unencumbered by any building or structure whatever except railing of a public walk,” according to the letter.
BTE also owns 4.46 acres at 18385 Nelson Road on the south side of the property in question. If the deed restrictions on the 2.63 acres are declared invalid and unenforceable, the combined parcels would offer access on Main Market, as well as Nelson roads and potentially open the corner to commercial development, Trustee Joyce Peters said in a phone conversation May 23.
The letter from Hauser was confusing because it placed the restricted parcel in question at the intersection of the two roads, but the 0.46-acre parcel number is 25-703000. Parkman Fire Chief Mike Komandt said Nelson Road ends at the southwest corner of the gazebo park half-acre and McCall Road runs along the west side of the township parcel. There is no intersection of Main Market and Nelson, according to the map from the Geauga County Auditor’s Office website.
Regardless, Peters said the trustees need to find the 181-year-old meeting minutes to comply with the public records request.
“We’ll never find the records from 1843,” she said, asking township Fiscal Officer Denise Villars to begin a search.
