Home Depot Goes to Supreme Court on Ring Road

Home Depot is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to overturn a ruling about a "ring road" that would connect its Pearl Road store to the nearby Lowe's.

Law Director Ken Kraus said Home Depot, which has fought against the road for years, is asking the Supreme Court to hear the case.

The city will ask the court not to accept the case, Kraus said.

It is the latest move in a years-old battle Home Depot has fought against an interior access road that would link the stores at Pearl and Sprague -- which are now  and  -- with the stores just south, including the Lowe's at Pearl and Whitney. 

Lowe's is Home Depot's main competitor.

The Eighth District Court of Appeals in June upheld a lower court ruling that gave a green light to the ring road.

Kraus and Council President Mike Daymut have said the city wants the ring road for safety reasons because it would keep traffic from having to exit onto Pearl Road to go between the businesses.

Original plans show the internal road allowing motorists to go from Home Depot to Lowe's  -- all the way from Sprague to Whitney -- without exiting onto Pearl Road.

Kraus said Home Depot filed a lawsuit seeking to block the ring road, which was supposed to be built by Lowe's and former project developer David Lewanski. 

The court eventually ruled in favor the Lowe's, Lewanski and the city, and Home Depot appealed. 

Daymut said the issue actually stretches back to the 1990s, when Builder's Square first moved into the site that is now Home Depot. Even then, he said, plans called for a ring road to be put in to access any other businesses that might be built to the south.

Kraus said there is more than $90,000 in an escrow fund to pay for construction of the road.