DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WKRC) - Curtis Pendergrass doesn't want a road to run through his property.
He lives on Primrose Drive in Loveland Park.
Deerfield Township wants to buy .013 acres of his land to align roads near his house. It would allow the township to use part of its land coupled with the homeowner’s to connect Rich Road and Primrose at the intersection of Davis Road.
Township Trustee Lelle Hedding said, “It's a very odd intersection. There have been accidents at this intersection. The roads are too close to each other coming in at odd angles. This would take two main roads align them into one.”
Monday, Pendergrass got a visit. He says a man working for the township offered him money to create an easement. That would let the township straighten the roads.
“He stopped by to offer me $1,900 for right where you're standing basically to the middle of my yard,” said Pendergrass. “First off, $1,900 is a joke, but I don't want the road closer to my house and nobody in my neighborhood wants this road because they don't want more traffic.”
Township Administrator Eric Reiners says the township contracts with a third party which made an assessment of the property and offered fair market value for it.
Pendergrass thinks the township is trying to alleviate congestion on nearby Columbia and accommodate homeowners in newer subdivisions.
“They say there's no definite plan yet but the blueprints are already drawn. I've seen them,” Pendergrass said.
He says the township needs to purchase his entire property or he’s not interested in selling any of it.
Township trustees say they're not trying to force Pendergrass to give up his property. Hedding has seen posts on social media claiming that the township will take the property by eminent domain, but she says that is not true. Hedding says she has tried to reach out to Pendergrass.
“Right now the story is that we're trying to eminent domain his property and that we're trying to steal his land and that we're trying to get something from him that he doesn't want to give up and we are in the position that if you do not want to give that up, if we cannot purchase that easement from you that's fine.”
Reiners told Local 12 News over the phone that if Pendergrass does not agree to sell, Reiners will recommend abandoning plans for the road project.
