By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
WATERFORD TOWNSHIP – The congregation of Divine Peace Metropolitan Community Church has been left without a home since a March 27 decision by the Waterford Township Board of Supervisors stopped a deal made with the church back in December. Now the church has hired the Rasor law firm to file suit against the township, and the congregation is desperately seeking a place to hold services.
At issue is whether or not the township would be required, if the sale were to go through, to reimburse its Housing and Urban Development Community Block Grant funds the difference between the $250,000 offered by Divine Peace (which was accepted by the Township's Board of Trustees during its Dec. 12 meeting) and the $410,000 assessed value of the property. The church, an historic building located on Andersonville Road, was purchased and rehabilitated using block grant funds provided by the Department of Housing and Urban Development from 1976-1980.
"My understanding is we have to [sell it for] market value, not appraised value, and market value is what it sells for," said Trustee Stan Moore, who told BTL that he is a real estate developer. Moore was the only trustee who voted to uphold the Dec. 12 resolution to enter into final negotiations to sell the property to the church.
Divine Peace submitted the highest of three bids received by the township for the property.
Moore's assessment is shared by Jim Rasor, Divine Peace's attorney.
According to Rasor, the HUD regulation says the church must be sold for the "current market value of the property. [The regulation] doesn't say, 'appraised market value of the property,' it says 'current market value of the property.'"
In a March 16 letter to the township Rasor quotes Black's Law Dictionary, which according to the letter defines "current market value" as the 'present value which may be realized in an arms length transaction between a willing buyer and a willing seller."
However, a national media spokesperson for HUD, Brian Sullivan, told BTL that it is the appraisal that determines the market value of the property. After confirming that the township would have to reimburse its Community Block Grant funds if it fails to meet the HUD requirements, Sullivan said, "You have to sell it for fair market value, which is determined by an appraisal."
When asked what happens if a community is unable to sell a property for a price that even comes close to its appraised value, Sullivan responded, "Maybe they need another appraisal. I don't know."
Robert Vallina, the township's director of Community Planning & Development, defended the March 27 decision.
Vallina explained that Stoppert's Appraisal Service, which originally did the appraisal, has "been in the township a long time."
Vallina told BTL that he contacted the company after the Dec. 12 Trustees meeting to see "if there was some fluctuation and flexibility, in terms of what his appraised value is."
"They stated that they're very firm on their price. In fact Mr. Stoppert was insisting, and mentioned that he had several additional comparables for church-related properties; church-based type properties; ones that had been former church buildings that were from a square footage evaluation were at or above what he had evaluated our property, and he said in some instances they were actually in 'inferior locations,'" Vallina said.
"I can't risk taking a lower amount in terms of jeopardizing us going and doing something and then having HUD come back and saying, 'Guess what? You've got to pay the difference,'" Vallina added.
According to Vallina, the original request for proposals to buy the church was published twice in The Oakland Press. The township's Director of Parks and Recreation, Tom Newcombe, told BTL that he took the further step of sending the RFP to "eight names" of real estate developers.
According to Rasor, the township is using the low number of bids as an excuse to renege on the sale of the property to a gay church. "You know if the township [said they] had failed to publish this … it was a flaw in our bidding process. Ok, I get it. That's a good reason to say 'Hey, we screwed up,'" Rasor said.
"The other thing is, at the December meeting they knew about these issues. They knew that they had an obligation with HUD, they knew that they had an appraisal for $410,000 – they knew everything about this. So why all of a sudden are they backpedaling as fast as they can?"
In the meantime, based on what she had believed was a firm agreement to sell the property to her congregation, Rev. Deb Dysert gave up the lease on the current building in which they are worshipping.
"We've only got until May 22 to find a place to worship," Dysert said. "We are pleading that if anybody has a place – a storefront, whatever – we are needing to find a location."
Despite the fact that Vallina had been researching the appraisal issue since December, Dysert said that she wasn't told that there was a problem with the sale until March. Nor was the church informed that the sale was on the agenda of the March 27 meeting.
"They told us after that [Dec. 12] meeting as they were shaking our hands, 'Don't worry about it, it's the holidays, we'll call you at the beginning of the year.' We trusted their word," she said.
"[Divine Peace board member] Maryanne Northcoat started contacting them in January hoping to kind of prompt them, because we trusted what they said when they said they'd contact us," Dysert added.
In Vallina's opinion, the Dec. 12 Trustee resolution giving the go-ahead to negotiate a sales agreement with Divine Peace left the issue of the final selling price open. However, the resolution itself "recommends the Township Board conditionally accept the Divine Peace offer of $250,000; pending acceptance of a five percent earnest money deposit, the negotiation of the contract using the services of the Township attorney, and with the negotiated sales agreement submitted to the Township Board for final review and consideration."
"We were under the impression that the 'negotiations' were going to consist of any historical restrictions that they would like to transfer to us – not the price at all," Northcoat said.
Asked about the failure to contact Divine Peace regarding the March 27 meeting where the December resolution to sell the church was voted down, Township Supervisor Carl W. Solden said, "This was just a resolution that would change the last resolution, and it wasn't necessary for them to be there … there's no requirement in which to notify them for something like that."
"Our biggest concern is for the ethics they have used in this process," said Dysert. "As residents, I have concern for anybody going through a process and how can they trust what they're [the trustees] saying to us in negotiations when they change their minds three months later."
Vallina said that the March decision had nothing to do with the makeup of Divine Peace's congregation.
"From my standpoint I don't care who it is. The fact is I've got HUD rules to abide by," he said.
"Is Waterford Township saying that individuals are not justified in relying on what that board says at its meetings?" Rasor said. "Are they saying that their process is so messed up that there's somehow some reason why they can accept a bid and just decide that they've screwed up and they need to revoke it? Is that the way business works? Does that make any sense to you?"
Rasor told BTL that the Divine Peace lawsuit against Waterford Township will be filed by the middle of April.
Divine Peace MCC needs a place to worship by May 22 in the Clarkston or Waterford area. Those who own or know of an appropriate property are asked to call the church at 248-618-1186.
Related story online: See "Divine Peace finds potential new home," 17017 online at https://www.pridesource.com.
