6/27/17 – 5:25 A.M.

The widening of Road 5 in Putnam County finished a few years ago, but the legal proceedings continue. The Lima News reports landowners along the road have filed another lawsuit. The new legal claim says the Putnam County Commissioners didn’t have the right to take land needed for the project through eminent domain. The argument says the county couldn’t use eminent domain because the commissioners didn’t have a unanimous vote. The filing argues the 3rd Ohio District Court of Appeals backed the land owners claim in a 2014 ruling.

The claim also says that in May of 2015 courts dismissed all the eminent domain cases, meaning the county should restore the property or pay trespass damage.

Commissioner Vince Schroeder tells the newspaper many landowners along Road 5 wanted to restrict truck traffic on the road back in 2012 rather than widen it. He added the county couldn’t do that because the road is a public road.

MORE: Lima News