Ohio Supreme Court rejects Warren County residents’ appeal

The Ohio Supreme Court declined to intervene in litigation between Warren County and a group of Franklin Twp. residents challenging a decision permitting a septic-tank cleaning business in the neighborhood.

In a decision announced this morning, the state's high court declined jurisdiction, as Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Adam Nice said it should in a January motion.

“This case is not of public or great general interest and does not involve a substantial constitutional question,” Nice said in the Jan. 11 motion. “Appellee Warren County Rural Board of Zoning Appeals submits that this court should decline jurisdiction in this case.”

RELATED: Warren County septic struggle moves to Ohio Supreme Court

Thomas Eagle, lawyer for Scott and Laura Dehart and Septek, the business operated from their home on Beal Road in Franklin Twp. made a similar argument in a Jan. 9 motion.

Roger Eckert, a Beal Road resident and former local law director, claimed the county process left him and a lawyer hired for the first appeal of the conditional use permit for Septek with nothing to work from.

“This BZA acts as though it has been ordered to seed residential neighborhoods with non—residential uses regardless of the damaging effects, perhaps to accelerate economic development. It acts well beyond its legal authority, consistently disregarding the many criteria in the Code that are intended protect existing property owners,” Eckert said in a Dec. 12 memorandum explaining his appeal.

It was unclear whether the residents would take further action.

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