There is one thing on the road that sticks out, though:
This house sits just east of the exit for Route 310, right up against the freeway. It’s looked like that since about the time the freeway went through. “O.D.O.T.,” stands for Ohio Department of Transportation.
I’ve always assumed it had to do with some dispute arising out of the condemnation of property to build the freeway, but I’ve wondered what the specific story was for years. Today I did a little searching and found this, written by a man who says that he spoke to the owner a few years back:
The owner’s side of the story was that ODOT used eminent domain compelling him to sell the portion of the property they needed for the freeway, but that they refused to purchase the entire property, including the part on which the house sat. His problem, though, wasn’t that he was stuck with a house right next to a freeway. That would be bad enough, but at least understandable. Rather his problem was that the portion of the property they compelled him to sell included the leach field for the house’s septic system and the remaining parcel that the house sat on was too small to install a new leach field that would meet local code. So he wasn’t just left with a house next to a freeway, he was left with an uninhabitable house next to a freeway.
It’s been a while since I practiced law, but the foggy parts of my memory related to these kinds of cases suggest that there is likely a bit more to this story. Local juries determine land value when there is dispute, and they almost always tend to overpay landowners who challenge state valuation in condemnation cases. In light of that, the state usually comes in with high offers to begin with. Maybe he was screwed on the parcel with the house, but I suspect he came out fine overall after they bought the parcel they needed for the freeway. There’s plenty of injustice in this country, but rural landowners tend to do OK financially speaking when the bulldozers come to plow places like Licking County into the 21st century, even if they are inconvenienced or displaced.
Regardless of the specifics, I’ve always been struck by the “O.D.O.T. Sucks” house. While I suppose most people who see it think of it as nothing but an eyesore, I’m amused by it. Both at its existence and by the fact that it’s lasted in the state it’s in for so long.
Some quick searching shows that the deed was redone in 2007, with the current owner conveying the house to himself, likely in connection with whatever it was ODOT did with respect to their other land. For tax purposes, the house is only worth $800, with annual taxes on it running around $13, which the owner has faithfully paid. While the house is uninhabited, a quick search of property records shows that the owner of the house lives in similar but slightly larger home two miles away. It’s neat, tidy and inviting. It’s also close enough to the old house that it’s no inconvenience at all for him to go put a fresh coat of paint on his “O.D.O.T. Sucks” sign whenever necessary. Which he clearly has, by the way. The house faces south and the sun would’ve bleached those orange letters pretty badly by now if he had let it be. Today, however, they’re as vibrant as the day they first went up. My wife took that photo when we drove past yesterday afternoon.
I wonder who will blink first. The owner could, if he wanted to, simply abandon the basically worthless property. If O.D.O.T. grows weary of the sign, it could restart negotiations with the owner to see how much it would take to get him to either give up the land or, at the very least, bulldoze the house or cover the sign. The county could maybe get involved too, perhaps creatively reassessing the value of the property — it’s right next to an exit, so might it be rezoned for a gas station? — raising the owner’s tax rates to the point where he’s no longer able to cheaply maintain his sign. Given that an influential new neighbor is moving in just a couple of miles up the freeway soon, maybe someone else will come to the table too.
In the meantime, I’ll continue to drive by the “O.D.O.T. Sucks” house a few times a week, acknowledging that, yes, it’s an eyesore, but smiling that it’s still there. Not because I take the landowner’s side, necessarily. I don’t know him and I don’t know the specifics of his beef. No, I smile because we live in a world where powerful forces always seem to win, conformity always seems to reign and anything old, small, unique or just plain weird seems to get plowed over, literally or figuratively.
The fact that someone on the wrong end of the plow’s blade has basically held his middle finger up like this for close to a decade gives me hope that the powerful forces’ victory, even if inevitable, won’t always be easy.
August 15, 2019 UPDATE: Someone has bought the house from the owner and is renovating the property. The kicker: he may keep the sign!
