FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO): There’s a light at the end of the tunnel for Fort Wayne’s legal fight over a proposed downtown riverfront park.

The Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department sued Gregory Cambray and Red Bird Properties last June over two acres of land on the south side of the St. Marys River, seeking to use eminent domain to condemn the properties to make way for a park that’s part of downtown riverfront development plans.

The defendants had both been approached by the city to sell their properties, but they refused.

Now the News-Sentinel reports that a settlement hearing has been set for February 16th at 9am; Judge David Avery will oversee the case, after Judge Thomas Felts suddenly removed himself from it last month.