Settlement has been reached in a Defiance County land acquisition

A settlement has been reached in a Defiance County land acquisition controversy near the county airport. Defiance County’s airport board had filed an eminent domain court action last summer to appropriate property for the facility’s runway safety zone. Attorney Bruce McGary of Mason, representing the Defiance County Regional Airport Authority, filed the suit last year in Defiance County Common Pleas Court asking that 10.77 acres belonging to Ronald Burdine and his late wife Edna Burdine on Evansport Road be taken to ensure the safety zone. Burdine will now be allowed to remain living on the property. The suit proposed that the airport board compensate the property owner with $100,000, but the county agreed to a figure of $140,334, according to Defiance County Commissioner Ryan Mack. He said the county is fronting the money, but most will be reimbursed from an FAA grant.