5/15/17 – 5:12 A.M.

Two eminent domain cases in Putnam County head to court next month. The Courier reports pretrial hearings are set for early June, with jury trials slated for later in the month. The cases involve two properties on the west side of Ottawa. They involved land the Maumee Watershed Conservancy District plans to use for a 4,000 foot Blanchard River diversion channel.

The conservancy district voted to enter into the eminent domain process last year. Eminent domain gives the government the right to take private property for public use. The law requires the government to give property owners “just compensation.”

An independent appraisal of property owned by Robert and Rosaline Buescher and their children showed the land was worth more than $146,000. The same appraisal set the value of land owned by Theresa and Alan Kuhlman at nearly $121,000. The assessments are for the land planned for the diversion channel, not the entirety of the property owned by the families.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the proposed diversion channel will speed up the flow of water from the Blanchard River out of Ottawa. Plans from the U.S. Army Corps of engineers say the channel could drop flood levels in Ottawa by up to 9 inches. A redesigned Road I-9 bridge could drop flood levels by six inches on its own.

MORE: The Courier