Huron's Showboat case ends

HURON — A three-year-long legal battle recently ended with Huron's government claiming a victory in a land dispute. A conflict between the city, the defendant, and a private individual, the plaintiff, centered on who owned a sliver of waterfront land once home to the Showboat Restaurant on North Main Street by the North Main Pier. To summarize, here's how the litigation played out: • Back in 2022, Erie County Common Pleas Court Judge Tygh Tone sided with Huron's government. The plaintiff originally filed this lawsuit in 2020. • The plaintiff then appealed through Ohio's sixth district court of appeals. The appellate court also, in a unanimous decision, sided with Huron. • Finally, and more recently, the plaintiff submitted documentation to Ohio's Supreme Court, which, again in unanimous fashion, opted against hearing this case. This brought the legal action to an official end, Huron city manager Matt Lasko said. "The Ohio Supreme Court is not obligated to hear every case that is appealed to it, and we recently found out that the Ohio Supreme Court agreed that the case was not worth being presented to them," Lasko said. Lasko noted this decision ensures, "The city is the rightful owner of the property and acquired it through proper legal channels." Huron's legal team believes it's always been in the right. For starters, the city provided documentation to prove ownership. It also took an active role in developing this site for years, and the private individual didn't or couldn't take part in these actions, officials said. "The city would like to thank the court for their thorough examination of the facts of the case and ruling in favor of the city," Lasko said. Next steps So now what could happen? "The city can finally commence a pretty extensive public process to determine final designs and improvements for that space," Lasko said. "We do envision all or most of that site remaining publicly owned and publicly accessible," he added. "But we think it's really important for the community and local stakeholders to weigh in on what improvements or enhancements they want to see at that space." Back in 2014, Huron purchased the property for $315,000. Since then, and up until the lawsuit was filed in 2020, it had invested about $888,000 into strengthening the property's foundation, under the Huron River, for future development purposes. Today the entire former restaurant site is a mixture of parking and a grassy area. Many people park there to visit nearby businesses and walk or fish along the pier. The case's background August Kuebeler, Jr. became the owner of Water Lot No. 1 near the site now known as the Showboat property, in 1906. Water Lot No. 1 represents the parcel in question. By 1915, Water Lot No. 1 had become submerged, and the auditor removed it from the county's tax roll. Previous owners of the Showboat property erected pilings and wharves over Lot 1 to improve other neighboring water lots. The city improved the pilings and wharves to protect the property. When Kuebeler's wife died, she made her nephew, Michael McCune, executor of her estate, which could allow him to possibly lay claim to the land erected on top of the submerged Water Lot No. 1. Michael died in 2016, but his widow, Sally McCune, laid claim to the lot in September 2020. In a counterclaim, she asked the court for damages, including ownership interest in the modified land and fair market value for rental use. The courts, in Erie County and at the state level, ultimately ruled against her and for Huron. "We certainly agree with (these outcomes)," city law director Todd Schrader said. "There was no evidence in their ownership: They didn't participate in activities to show that they would, like paying taxes, which they didn't do." To date, the city has spent more than $50,000 in legal fees on this case.