Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
WINONA LAKE - Several Winona Lake residents are suing the town, and others, for rights to their property on the east side of Canal Street in a complaint filed in March in Kosciusko Superior Court I.
The 29 plaintiffs, who own land along Esplanade, Administration Blvd., West Canal, East Canal and 12th streets, claim the town is charging rent on property, specifically the plaintiffs' property, that the town does not own.
Three other cases are cited in the lawsuit in which the town has said it has no interest in real estate similar to the plaintiffs' other than easements for public streets.
The plaintiffs charge the pier rental ordinance, Ordinance 2005-2-2, assumes the town owns property along the channel and singles out certain pier users, invades the jurisdiction of the Department of Natural Resources, contains no specific pier standards, grants the town immunity from any responsibility, regulates the seawalls that are in the jurisdiction of the DNR and the U.S. Corps of Engineers and provides for a daily penalty for any ordinance violation.
The plaintiffs are asking Ordinance 2005-2-2 be declared illegal and void. They also ask that any fees incurred by them in 2005 and in prior years be returned or used to benefit the property.
Legal descriptions indicate plaintiffs as having title to property on both sides of West Canal Street, subject to the appropriate and lawful uses of the street's right of way, as platted, the suit claims.
Plainiffs in the suit are Anita Thomas, Sharon Justice, Eugene Seiman, Roger Smith, Carol Smith, Clarence DeTurk as trustee of the Clarence W. DeTurk Revocable Living Trust, Robert and Betty Horne, Jerold and Janice Nelson, Heinz Fussle, Virginia Smith, Virginia Smith as trustee of the Virginia B. Smith Revocable Trust Agreement, Brendt Smith, Kenneth Konieczny, Herbert and Betty McKinley, Fred Landolt Jr., Machelle Landolt, Roelf and Deborah Kuitse, J. Davis and Cynthia Illingworth as trustees of the Illingworth Family Trust, Warren and Annelies Campbell, Herbert and Barbara Teeter and the Roy Guenin and Carol Guenin Revocable Living Trust.
In addition to the town, others named as defendants are David Porter, Mark Workman, Roger Smoker, Brent Wilcoxson, Art and Caryoln Gakstatter, Alicia Beam, James and Lisa LeMasters, Edward and Rebecca Grill and Winona Restoration Partners.
The defendants are named because they own one or more tracts adjacent to the plaintiffs. The lawsuit says the defendants are named solely for the purpose of notice and allowing them to answer as their interests may appear.
Richard Helm is attorney for the plaintiffs.
