The 110-year-old club in Newark, Ohio has been fighting an attempt by a state historical agency to reclaim its lease arrangement via eminent domain, so public access could be provided to ancient burial mounds on the property and help the site qualify for World Heritage recognition. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal of a previous ruling that the Ohio History Connection could end the lease by providing the club with “just compensation”; since that ruling, the two parties have been far apart on establishing a proper amount for a settlement.
The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal by Moundbuilders Country Club in Newark, Ohio of orders that it sell back a lease to the state historical agency to provide public access to ancient burial mounds, the Associated Press reported.
A judge in Licking County, Ohio ruled through a civil lawsuit in 2019 that the Ohio History Connection (OHC) could reclaim the lease for the two-thousand-year-old Octagon Mounds from Moundbuilders CC, which was founded in 1910, via eminent domain, as long as “just compensation” was arranged (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/historic-earthworks-trump-golf-judge-rules/).
That ruling was then upheld in January 2020 by the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals.
C+RB then reported in May 2020 (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/historical-organization-offers-1-6m-for-moundbuilders-cc/) that the OHC had offered the club $1.6 million to end its lease for the property, which had been extended to 2078 through an arrangement made with the historical agency in 1997.
At that time, an attorney for Moundbuilders estimated that the club is worth as much as $14 million.
Now, because of the 5-2 decision that was announced on July 7th, the issue will go to the Supreme Court for a hearing at a date that has not yet been determined.
The OHC wants to buy back the lease and convert the property to a park to improve public access to the Octagon Mounds, part of the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks that have been proposed for nomination to the UNESCO World Heritage List, which includes sites selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as having cultural, historical, scientific or other forms of significance.
During the court proceedings that led to the order for Moundbuilders CC to sell back its lease, the U.S. Department of the Interior said it would only forward the World Heritage nomination to the United Nations if the golf course had been removed from the site.
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