SUGARCREEK TOWNSHIP — Controversy surrounds the future of land connected to a Greene County war hero.
Sugarcreek Township has plans to sell a property that a trust willed to them and some in the community are not happy about it.
Greene County native and World War II veteran Jim “Pee Wee” Martin owned the property.
After he died last year, his will said the land would go to the township.
Monday night, those in attendance each had five minutes to let the township board of trustees know where they stand with the sale of Martin’s land.
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Currently, Martin’s land is set to be sold to his granddaughter Jodi Puterbaugh for around $400,000.
Puterbaugh was at the meeting along with other members of the Martin family, and she said despite what was put in the will her grandfather did not want the land to be sold.
“I’m just asking you guys to take a step back and reflect ... use a couple of different data points when you’re trying to make an important decision,” Puterbaugh said.
After the board got through the meeting agenda, they opened the floor to the public.
“I think you want to look at what he would want and what the family would want..should be up to the family,” one resident said.
Some said the board of trustees shouldn’t have accepted the land in the first place.
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“When someone wills you something or gives you something, you don’t have to accept it,” another resident said.
Sugarcreek Township Director of Planning and Zoning Cara Tilford said Martin left specific instructions to sell the land if it was not going to be used.
“I believe Mr. Martin was very deliberate in the wording of his trust giving the trustees the ultimate leeway on how the money would be spent,” Tilford said.
The board holds regular meetings every first and third Monday of the month.
The next meeting will be held at the beginning of May.
A final decision has not been made on what to do with the land, we will update this story when that decision is made.
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