Dayton had claimed that Union had deliberately tried to “cast a cloud over Dayton’s title” to the prairie land it wanted to sell to a developer. Union claimed the city of Dayton was violating an agreement they had, and should have only let the land be used for needed airport operations.
The city had said in 2019 that a developer had backed out from developing the land because of the legal action and because, in addition, conservationists had been protesting the proposal to redevelop land that’s part of Paul E. Knoop Jr. Prairie.
It’s not clear what the settling of the legal claims means for future development on the land.
A request for comment was left Thursday with Union City Manager John Applegate. City Manager Shelley Dickstein said at the Wednesday commission meeting that Union reviewed and approved the settlement at its Monday meeting.
Origin of dispute
The city of Dayton had been planning to sell most of the Paul E. Knoop Jr. Prairie by the Dayton airport to be redeveloped. This prairie is near Frederick Pike and West National Road.
In 2019, the city of Dayton filed a lawsuit against the city of Union in Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, and Union had filed a counterclaim.
In its complaint, the city of Dayton had said Union deliberately tried to “cast a cloud over Dayton’s title” to 110 acres of prairie land to get the potential buyer to back out of a purchase contract.
Dayton claims Union “slandered” its title and rights to sell the land for redevelopment by filing an official affidavit to try to get the buyer to instead purchase property in Union for an industrial project.
Union’s affidavit said the prairie property that Dayton acquired must be used only for “necessary airport operations,” such as a runway extension, and cannot be used for commercial purposes.
The cities had previously reached an agreement in 2016 to resolve a dispute about land in Butler Twp. both cities wanted to annex.
Even before Dayton and Union’s suits, there was controversy around the prairie and development.
Some people, including conservationists and residents, had protested and spoken out at Dayton city commission meetings because they wanted the prairie land preserved from development.
In September 2019, Dayton leaders said a company interested in investing $250 million for a new facility on the prairie land backed out after months of protests against the proposal and the legal dispute between the cities.
Settlement
At the Dayton city commission meeting Wednesday, officials said key points of the settlement includes that Union will file a new affidavit of facts to strike out the previous one by Union in 2019 subject to the dispute.
The cities have reached agreement on the maintenance construction and annexation of certain roads and right of way located near the Dayton International Airport.
Dayton agrees to sell certain property it owns located in Union to third parties for fair market value.
The 2016 annexation agreement remains in effect and unchanged.
Dayton will also procure an independent environmental and water study to assess the impact of development on water, ground water, and the area surrounding the Knoop Prairie.
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