WAYNESVILLE — The owners of a private self-storage facility are suing the village of Waynesville because they say they were forced to make sewer line repairs that should have been the local or state government’s responsibility to fix.
William LeMay and Michael Foley, the owners of Uni-Store, a “lock and store” facility located at 50 U.S. 42, said the village and the state forced them to repair a malfunctioning storm water line that ran underneath their property that they had no idea or record was even installed there.
Foley, who is an attorney, stated in his lawsuit that the state of Ohio constructed a storm water system that dumps onto a storm water line on the property of LeMay and Foley. Sometime in the latter part of 2009 or early 2010, the storm water system began to back up, causing flooding on U.S. 42, Foley said.
In March, Village Manager Bruce Snell requested and was granted permission to enter the Uni-Store property and perform the necessary repairs. However, Foley said that in May the village council sent a letter demanding Foley and LeMay pay for the repairs out of their own pocket.
Foley and LeMay made the repairs at a cost of $5,300 but now say that under the rules of eminent domain, Waynesville or the state should have provided notice it was using the property for a storm sewer line.
According to Foley, this was the first time he and LeMay had ever learned that Waynesville and the state were using his property to transmit storm water. Foley said there was no recorded easement, as he said there should be by law.
Foley said he has been a partial owner of the business and the property on which it sits since 1986, and that LeMay has owned it for longer than that. He said he was never aware of the easement or that a line ran under the property until earlier this year when village officials told him he had to fix it.
Snell said he could not comment on the matter while it was still ongoing.
Foley and LeMay are requesting $5,300 in reimbursement for the construction plus compensation for the area taken and attorney fees.