Settlement reached in case over proposed motel near Greene County cemetery
WAYNESBURG – A lawsuit seeking to force the owners of the Econo Lodge Motel in Franklin Township to restore a small family cemetery, left inaccessible three years ago following excavation for a new motel, apparently has been settled.
An order issued Thursday by Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman stayed the proceedings in the case involving the Rhodes Family Cemetery on Miller Lane, behind the Econo Lodge Motel.
Descendants of the eight to 12 people buried in the cemetery filed a lawsuit in April seeking to have the motel owners, Nikita Lodging and its principals, restore the cemetery.
The cemetery, at which the last burial occurred in about 1860, was left as a large mound of earth after excavation was completed around it more than three years ago for construction of a new motel behind the existing motel.
Terms of the settlement agreement are confidential, according to a motion for the stay presented by attorney Andrew Jenkins for one of the six defendants, Adam Henderson. The motion requesting the stay noted the case will be dismissed upon satisfaction of certain conditions of the settlement agreement, which are expected to be completed within the next 120 days from Aug. 9, the settlement date.
Neither attorneys for the plaintiffs nor the defendants could be reached Monday morning for comment. Keyur Patel, one of the principals of Nikita Lodging, declined to comment saying the settlement is confidential.
As part of its plan to construct a new motel behind the existing motel, Nikita originally planned to preserve the cemetery by building a retaining wall around it and steps leading to the graves.
However, work on the new motel was halted by Franklin Township in the fall of 2015 until Nikita took steps to stabilize the cemetery.
The excavation left the cemetery a large mound of earth, rising more than 25 feet high and measuring about 65 by 61 feet. No access was provided to the graves and concerns have been raised about the mound’s stability.
The matter first came to court in September 2015, when Toothman initiated action by presenting a motion to require Franklin Township to declare the cemetery a public nuisance and assume care for its restoration. The case was referred to mediation, which after more than a year, failed to arrive at a resolution.
Descendants of the families buried in the cemetery then filed the lawsuit against Nikita Lodging.
Franklin Township was not a party to the suit. However, any plan to conduct work on the cemetery will have to be reviewed by the township planning commission, said Steve Coss, township code enforcement officer. Township approval will be needed for any new plan or for the re-submission of the original plan that called for the retaining wall and steps leading to the site, he said.
Coss said the township had not been informed about the settlement. The company last filed a plan with the township in March that called for relocating the cemetery, but then withdrew that plan before it was considered by the planning commission, he said.