The family that donated the land for Green Estate Park has filed suit against the city of Mexico, alleging the city has failed to maintain the property as required under the terms of the 2005 gift and is asking a court to order the city to comply with those terms or, in the alternative, return ownership of the land to the donors.
The suit, filed Aug. 6, by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, was brought by Warren C. "Renny" Smith, Jr, who donated approximately 143 acres to the city in November 2005. The property, once owned by the Green family and by A.P. Green Refractories, includes the park land south of Jefferson Road, the Churchill Gate along Clark Street, Rabbit's Foot Lake and five bridges across the grounds.
According to the complaint, the city accepted the gift subject to a restriction agreement that required the city to maintain the park land for the public’s recreational use, including performing ongoing maintenance of the bridges, Rabbit’s Foot Lake, the property’s split rail fence, the Churchill Gate, and the rest of the grounds. The agreement also limited what could be built on the property. The agreement included a reversion clause: if the city failed to honor its obligations and did not remediate maintenance deficiencies within ninety days of formal notice, ownership of the park would revert to the Smith family.
The complaint states that in a formal notice first delivered to the city in September 2024, Smith’s counsel identified multiple alleged violations of the agreement. The city then failed to take sufficient steps to remediate the violations, according to court filings.
“When Renny Smith and his then attorney Dan Erdel questioned certain park maintenance decisions, the city attempted to explain their concerns were based on incorrect perceptions,” Slagle said. “Nevertheless, Mr. Smith has now filed a suit to take the park back for his own purposes including potential development.”
Slagle added, “For more than 20 years the city has improved and beautified Green Estate Park. It’s an important community resource and many residents know its value and excellent condition.”
Multiple site inspections to the park from November 2024 to the summer of 2026 – attended by Smith, representatives of the city, and counsel for both parties – confirmed the conditions described in the notice, the complaint states. The complaint alleges that the city has failed to maintain Rabbit’s Foot Lake for the public’s recreational use, and instead has misleadingly placed “No Trespassing” signs near the pond representing that the pond is private property, even though it is on the park’s grounds.
“The city or the public does not have access because it’s been leased out, which is something they did before transferring ownership to us,” Slagle said.
The complaint further alleges that three of the five bridges in the park are in disrepair and the city has failed to maintain them, including by failing to post required weight-limit signage on both sides of each bridge. And the complaint asserts that the city has failed to remove multiple dead trees around the property, failed to mow large swaths of grassy areas so it could be used for the public’s recreational use, failed to adequately maintain the split rail fence that surrounds the property and expanded the size of a maintenance shed in the park in violation of restrictions limiting construction on the property.
The two sides failed to resolve their dispute about the city’s compliance with the restriction agreement during or after these site inspections.
Smith’s donation in 2005 was, at the time, one of the largest philanthropic gifts in the city's history. In remarks read at the Mexico Area Chamber of Commerce annual dinner in January 2006, where the donors were honored with the 2005 Philanthropic Award, the family described the property as "filled with the beauty of rolling hills, majestic trees, expansive lawns, sparkling ponds, and the rustic split rail fence." They wrote that they had purchased the property to prevent its conversion into a shopping mall or commercial development, and that they hoped Green Estate Park would become "one of Mexico's finest treasures."
The 2005 conveyance also allowed the city to develop the northeast section of the donated land as a residential subdivision, generating an estimated $750,000 in proceeds from lot sales that the parties intended for the city to use toward the required maintenance of Green Estate Park, according to the complaint.
The restriction agreement and general warranty deed transferring the property to the city
were recorded with the Audrain County Recorder of Deeds in December 2005. Both
documents are public records.
A hearing date has not been set.
“Mr. Smith would deprive the city residents of their continued enjoyment of the park and, of course, will fight to keep Green Estate Park from being developed and maintain it for the enjoyment of our residents,” Slagle said.
