Greenhills Home Owners Corp. v. City of Greenhills, 24 Ohio App. 2d 109

Summary

The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a property owners' amended petition challenging a Greenhills ordinance regulating the removal of trees from the city's Greenbelt. The court held that the prior Ohio Supreme Court decision upholding the Greenbelt zoning restrictions controlled and that the owners could not establish an uncompensated taking based on restrictions accepted when they acquired the property. The court affirmed the judgment sustaining the demurrer.

Holdings

1. The amended petition failed to state a cause of action because enforcement of the ordinance did not deprive the plaintiffs of any use of the Greenbelt to which they were entitled as private property and therefore did not constitute a compensable taking.
2. The plaintiffs were not entitled to have a jury impaneled to determine the value of the property because the restricted uses were not part of their private property rights for which compensation was owed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the amended petition stated a claim that the City's tree-removal ordinance effected a taking of private property without compensation or due process.
2. Whether the corporation was entitled to seek condemnation compensation for restrictions on use of the Greenbelt despite having acquired the property subject to those restrictions and having benefited from them through a reduced purchase price.

Disposition

affirmed