Owners of Moundbuilders Country Club in Newark, Ohio may be forced to sell the course to the Ohio History Connection, so complete public access to massive earthworks built by an ancient society 2,000 years ago can be granted. The property, which has been operated as a golf course since 1910, was appraised at $800,000.
The Ohio History Connection (OHC) has the authority to reclaim the 134-acre Octagon Mounds from Moundbulders Country Club in Newark, Ohio, Licking County Common Pleas Court Judge David Branstool ruled on May 24, the Newark Advocate reported.
If the Ohio History Connection can afford the compensation it will owe the country club, as determined by a jury on September 10, it will be able to take over the property—ending golf at the historic site and providing full public access to the massive earthworks built by an ancient society 2,000 years ago, the Advocate reported.
“We are pleased with this thoughtful and fair decision from Judge Branstool,” Ohio History Connection Executive Director and CEO Burt Logan said. “Today marks an important step forward to make the Octagon fully accessible to the public.
“We certainly felt throughout we had a strong case,” Logan added. “We’re just preparing for the jury trial. We can’t speculate on what verdict a jury might return. Our offer [of $800,000] was based on an appraisal.”
Logan would not speculate beyond the jury trial to determine what the possible compensation for the club might be, the Advocate reported.
In November, the Ohio History Connection (previously the Ohio Historical Society), filed a civil lawsuit against the country club, intending to buy back its lease on the Newark property, which has been operated as a golf course since 1910, the Advocate reported. Branstool listened to arguments from both sides in a trial during April and May. During closing arguments, Principal Assistant Attorney General Keith O’Korn said the case boiled down to two questions: Does the OHC have the authority to acquire the lease, and if so, is it necessary.
“Ohio law clearly authorizes the OHC to exercise eminent-domain power to acquire the lease of the Octagon Earthworks site,” Branstool wrote. “The OHC has a public duty to operate, protect and maintain the Octagon Earthworks and promote the state memorial for public use.”
A year ago, the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, which includes the Octagon, was proposed for nomination to the World Heritage List, the Advocate reported. But the U.S. Department of the Interior said it would only forward the nomination if the golf course has been removed from the site.
But Logan said the OHC did not pursue acquisition of the site simply so it could be included on the World Heritage List. “The real reason we advanced this is public access,” he told the Advocate. “The World Heritage List would be icing on the cake.”
John Mazzone, a volunteer club manager at Moundbuilders CC, testified during the trial that he and Erin Bartlett, a regional site coordinator for Ohio History Connection, have worked together each fall to schedule visitations for the upcoming season, the Advocate reported. For civic and charitable events, Mazzone testified, Moundbuilders didn’t charge a fee.
Since the 1997 extension of the lease, Branstool said, public awareness of the significance of the mounds grew, and demand for public access grew as well, the Advocate reported. Moundbuilders CC allowed four open-house days annually for public access to the site.
Branstool cited testimony from that since 2004, access to the Earthworks had become more difficult, and school groups even fled from a visit because of the spraying of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides, the Advocate reported. The judge further determined that the OHC made a good-faith offer to acquire the property when it notified the club on August 28, 2018 that it would pay $800,000, the full amount of an appraisal.
The OHC needs to take the property, Branstool said, to restore full public access to the Earthworks, the Advocate reported.
“The country club agreed that the plan to restore full public access is incompatible with the operation of a country club and golf course on the premises,” he wrote. “And the evidence overwhelmingly supported that conclusion.”
Although Moundbuilders CC took good care of the property for 100 years, Branstool said, that care was an investment in the business of running a golf course, the Advocate reported.
“Regardless of how long the country club has occupied the site, or the number of fundraising events it hosts, its current use of the property as a private, members-only country club contradicts its suggestion that it operates the site for a public purpose,” Branstool wrote.
“At the end of the day, 100 years of manicured lawns does not immunize the country club from eminent domain to restore public access to a site of prehistoric earthworks,” he wrote.
The judge said, however, that his ruling does not end the issue, the Advocate reported.
“This case is not over,” he wrote. “A jury still has to determine the country club’s just compensation. The country club may be forced to move, or not. After the jury’s verdict, the OHC will either buy it, if it can afford it, or abandon the appropriation if it cannot.”
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