WILMINGTON — Construction of a Sabina-area bike trail is ongoing, but so is a lawsuit stemming from a related property dispute.

Attorneys for both sides were in Magistrate Mary H. McElwee’s hearing room Wednesday, updating her on the status of the case and seeing what steps need to be taken going forward.

Construction of the multi-use trail officially started last fall with a groundbreaking ceremony. The 6.9-miles trail will stretch from Melvin Road east of Wilmington to Borum Road in Clinton County, via Sabina. For the most part, the course of the trail follows an abandoned railroad corridor.

Lebanon attorney Jason A. Showen, who represents Sabina landowners Larry and Bertha Fair who are the plaintiffs, said Wednesday that though the chain of title is incomplete, at no point in time is any part of the disputed property transferred, sold or deeded to the railroad.

Whether or not the railroad ever owned it or what its actual rights were are in dispute, said Showen, calling that “the meat of the case.”

Attorney Matthew S. Teetor with Isaac Wiles in Columbus represents the defendants Clinton County Parks District and the Board of Clinton County Commissioners. He said the parks district received ownership of the land from DP&L in 2011, then had it surveyed and began construction on the bike trail “that’s creating all the issues.”

Teetor brought up the possibility his clients might have “dominant or superior title” to the property.

He said he now has deeds going back to 1855, and he needs further time to review them to see whether the chain of title “deviates or what exactly happened.”

McElwee raised the option of mediation in the case, something the attorneys for both sides would have to agree to, she said.

Since June 1973, the Fairs have owned about 29 acres in Sabina, according to their written complaint. In the civil action, they allege defendants “have cleared parts of their disputed property and continue to construct and perform work on the paved trail, encroaching upon the disputed property, without right to do so.”

The Fairs also allege defendants now possess portions of the disputed property without permission or lawful right to do so.

The civil action seeks compensatory damages in excess of $25,000 on each applicable count in the complaint.

Since the action was filed in Clinton County Common Pleas Court in May, three defendants have been dropped from the case: the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), the Clinton County Trails Coalition, and Foill Incorporated — which is the project contractor.

Reach Gary Huffenberger at 937-556-5768.