Erie Metroparks Board of Commissioners v. Key Trust Co.

Sherck, Judge.

This is an appeal from a declaratory judgment issued by the Erie County Court of Common Pleas in a property dispute. Because the trial court’s determination concerning the scope of the lease in question was proper, we affirm that portion of the court’s decision. However, with respect to the court’s determination that a prior breach of the terms of the lease rendered it void, we reverse.

In 1827, the Ohio General Assembly chartered the Milan Canal Company to construct and operate a canal from Milan, Ohio to Lake Erie. In due course, the canal company acquired land and dug a canal…