CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio — Residents living on Grandview Avenue in Cleveland Heights, who didn't wish to give their names, are hoping a nearly five-and-a-half-year battle over a neighborhood pizza oven will soon come to an end.
According to Cuyahoga County court records, the fight over the back yard pizza oven owned by Paul Schambs and Mary Lynne Newsome is now the subject of civil lawsuit filed by neighbor Brooks Jones and his wife.
The lawsuit, which seeks $25,000 in damages, removal of the pizza oven and more, claims the smoke and fumes have hampered living conditions for Jones and his wife.
The lawsuit claims; "defendants’ use and operation of the oven has caused intolerable smoke and fumes at the Jones Residence, and has caused significant physical discomfort, mental anguish, and loss of use and enjoyment of the Jones Residence."
Jones was public about his complaints concerning the pizza oven during a July 15, 2019 Cleveland Heights city council meeting.
“We’ve had an on-going problem with smoke from a neighbors outdoor wood burning pizza oven," Jones told city council. "The oven is directly in line with our main living area and is located less than 50 feet away.”
“The smoke from the oven is a huge problem during firings which last anywhere from 3 to 10 hours," Jones added. “We can not comfortably live in our home, the most effective remedy to date is to leave our home to avoid the extra discomfort that we experience.”
News 5 reached out to both sides of this dispute, and the attorney representing Jones for this story, but we're still waiting for a response.
The City of Cleveland Heights responded on Monday and gave News 5 a copy of the ruling by Assistant Law Director Tiffany Hill, which was issued in a letter to Jones back in August 2019.
The letter informed Jones the city did not find the pizza oven violated any city codes or regulations:
After review of all of the above, the Law Department has determined that it can take no action at this time under these circumstances regarding the pizza oven. Neither the city of Cleveland Heights nor the Cleveland Division of Air Quality currently have a mechanism in place that measures smoke levels – it is subjective.
While Cleveland Heights does not take your complaint lightly, review of the videos provided as well as police reports indicate that the smoke does not rise to a level that significantly interferes with the public health, safety, peace, comfort or convenience or endangers the health comfort, safety or welfare of the general public or neighboring property owners or residents
Meanwhile, some residents living across the street from the pizza oven, who didn't want to give their names, believe the pizza oven is not a neighborhood issue.
“Well, we really enjoy the pizza oven, it hasn’t been a nuisance at all, it seems to be an asset to the community," neighbors said. “Yes it is unfortunate, we hope that this gets resolved soon because we don’t like the conflict, they both are great people, we just don’t understand why this is going on.”
Court records indicate both sides tried to reach a settlement on Jan. 10, but the effort failed, with the case set to be heard Cuyahoga County court this week.
