BRATENAHL VILLAGE, Ohio — Two dozens homeowners living on Corning Drive in the Village of Bratenahl continue with what appears to be a long legal battle over Lake Erie beach access they believe was unfairly taken from them.
The homeowner group has filed a lawsuit in Cuyahoga County Court after it said two beachfront homeowners at the end of Corning Drive were able to obtain a permit and put up a locked gate, blocking an access path to the beach residents said has been used by the neighborhood since the 1950's. The lawsuit also names the Village of Bratenahl.
Helen Brown, and longtime Corning Drive homeowner, told News 5 she was stunned when the locked gate was installed and residents were told they could no longer get to the beach.
“To be selfish, to keep us from going to our beach, the land is on our taxes, it's completely selfish," Brown said. "Walking down there for almost 30 years, and at 93 years old, that’s a big change over.”
Corning Drive Homeowner Amanda Martinsek told News 5 she and her neighbors have the legal right to use the narrow 10-foot path between the two beachfront homes because that access is written into the deeds of 14 out of the 24 homes on the street.
“This is heartbreaking and this is not what should happen in the neighborhood, and this is not what should happen on a street like Corning Drive," Martinsek said. “What had happened here was incredibly wrong and that it needed to be turned around.”
She stressed they tried negotiating about the fence before resulting to legal counsel.
“You buy a property and you are told you have access to lakefront property. We tried to negotiate, we offered a combination lock, where only the neighbors would have the combination, we asked to do mediation and our answer was a locked gate." Martinsek added.
News 5 contacted the attorney representing the beachfront property owners, but we were told the homeowners would not comment on the case. Bratenahl Mayor John Licastro also refused to comment due to the ongoing litigation but said he's hoping both side would come to some type of compromise as soon as possible.
But some Corning Drive homeowners like Larry Parella blames the Mayor and members of his administration for adding to this Bratenahl beach battle. Parella believes the city incorrectly granted a permit for the locked gate, and believes homeowners who have the beach access path written into their deeds should have been notified before the permit was issued.
“They decide that everybody on this street shouldn’t have access anymore, they just decided and the village let them get away with it," Parella said. “It’s really shameful for our village to let them get away with it, and the Mayor used that path, he knows the path’s there. They even put up handicapped access to that path when they repaved the streets.”
"I understand they want their privacy, and they’re entitled to their privacy, but they put up privacy fences already, which is fine, but open the path,” Parella added.
Meanwhile, Brown is hoping the legal fighting will come to an end, with both sides reaching a neighborly agreement.
“It never should have happened, never should have gone this far," Brown said. “We are all ordinary, God’s people, and we should act that way.”
