Commissioners consider petition to vacate area of Grafton Township

Lorain County commissioners will decide on a petition to vacate an undeveloped portion of Dellwood Road in Grafton Township.

In a Nov. 17 public hearing, attorney Erik Breunig argued that vacating a section of Dellwood and two paper roads (streets that appear on maps but have not been built) would violate his client’s property rights, after purchasing the land in June in response to concerns from residents over potential development and increased traffic.

“What we’re really talking about is abrogating (repealing) property rights that are vested interests of certain property owners and weighing that abrogation of property rights against this perceived public benefit of having streets vacated for the speculative reasons of public health and safety,” Breunig said.

Breunig said his clients have no intention of developing their land, but had an expectation that Dellwood could have been extended in the future based upon available public records as a platted road.

He called the motion to vacate by Grafton Township as a move to appease property owners while justifying it over concerns about liability.

“When you take away something that is, again, of record, you’re taking away a right of property owners to access on a public street in this case, that they purchased as part of their overall purchase of the property, it’s not just the land,” Breunig said. “There are other rights associated with that.”

Area residents noted their concerns about potential development.

Sue Bush, of Grafton, has lived in the area for 36 years and said she has gradually seen more houses constructed, which she sees as a threat to rural life.

“We had five deer go across our property yesterday,” Bush said. “To enjoy some of this still outdoor life that as we’re getting crowded more and more with development, it’s a sad state of affairs.

“If people want to crop out the livelihood of people because they want to have more development, that’s their choice. But they also shouldn’t take away the livelihood of people who have chose to live out there in the country because of paper roads or other roads.”

Greg Dudek, of North Ridgeville, is a third generation owner of his property and said completing Dellwood would change his family’s way of life.

“If the property to the west of me were to be developed, I could no longer use my property for what I use it for,” Dudek said. “Because I can’t see where I could be 500 feet from a dwelling to discharge a firearm, that would change our way of life.

“We hunted, we used to camp out there; we’d go out there for family picnics.”

Breunig responded to concerns about development, noting their objections only address the rights of his clients to have access to the roads.

Any potential development, he noted, would be addressed at later public meetings through the planning process and at the township level.

The commissioners continued the hearing until 11 a.m., Nov. 25, at which point they could reach a decision.