UPDATE: The suit was filed April 19.
Brookfield trustees have authorized an attorney to file suit against the owner of property on which a gas station and convenience store is being built on Irvine Avenue/Route 62.
The purpose of the suit is to have a Trumbull County Common Pleas Court judge prohibit the use of Dutch Lane in Masury as an entrance and exit point to and from the gas station.
Taking the action April 16, the trustees said they would send a notarized copy of the motion to township attorney Cherry Poteet.
Trustee Dan Suttles said he prefers resolving issues without involving the legal system. “In this case, I don’t feel we have any alternative.”
This is an issue that has been brewing since 2021. A company called IN LLC bought two houses and a storefront in the 900 block of Route 62 and tore them down, then sought consolidation of the lots into one. Trumbull County Planning Commission approved the consolidation with the condition, sought by the trustees, that any development not use Dutch Lane as an access point.
Dutch Lane is a 20-foot alley that runs between the intersection of Addison Road and Brookfield Avenue on the east end across Roberts Street to Standard Avenue at the west end. Many people use it to avoid the traffic light at Route 62 and Addison Road.
Allowing the developer to use Dutch Lane would funnel more traffic onto Dutch, including, presumably, tanker trucks, trustees said. They said they are concerned about the site distance for motorists who would travel from the gas station to Dutch Lane because buildings on the west side are built close to the road.
The intersection of Dutch, Brookfield and Addison remains the site of many fender-benders, even though the county installed stop signs with lights on them to make the signs more visible.
The property is now owned by a company called Amira Omran LLC. Attempts by NEWS On the Green over the years to reach someone from IN LLC or Amirah Omran LLC to discuss plans for the property have not been successful.
The construction of the gas station has begun, and Suttles said construction vehicles have been using Dutch Lane, tracking mud and dirt on it and other roads.
The presumed drive-through window is on the east side of the under-construction building and, unless vehicles back away from the window, they will have to go onto Dutch, Suttles said.
Suttles said he has attended two Zoom meetings with Ike Omran, who is affiliated with IN LLC and Amirah Omran LLC, and Omran stated at the first meeting he will not use Dutch Lane. However, at the second, he said he would be interested in making a deal with the township to widen Dutch, Suttles said.
Dutch can’t be widened because the township does not have enough right-of-way, and the position of buildings along it and the topography would make that difficult anyhow, said township Road Supt. Jaime Fredenburg.
The trustees asked Fredenburg if the township could put up barriers or curb to block access from the property to Dutch, but Fredenburg said that action would reduce the usable width of the road. An alternative might be to make Dutch a one-way street, which would allow for barriers, he said.
The motion approved by the trustees said Amira Omran LLC is developing the property “to provide access from the property to Dutch Lane” in defiance of the consolidation condition. The motion said Dutch is “narrow and not designed to serve as a roadway with full access.”
The “refusal of Amira Omran LLC to comply with the plat restriction will result in danger to the public and damage to the roadway,” the motion said.
Trustee Mark Ferrara said the suit is “needed in order to prevent any safety issues that could occur.”
