Letter Reveals Former City Council Attempted to Purchase Historic Church Property Using Threat of Condemnation Through Eminent Domain

“The City is determined that it needs this property for public purposes and if negotiations fail, the City is prepared to proceed with condemnation” states a letter from former City Attorney Peter F. Boyce to the Old Methodist Church property owners on August 11, 2003.The letter is copied to Councilmember David B. McLeroy.

• Read Letter 

The Church asking price was said to be $2.8 million. With the former City Attorney placing the Church property owners under a condemnation threat, and the city government moving to control the Mitchell Street lot behind the Church property, the Church owners had few options.In the face of what might be termed at best, unethical conduct by elected representatives, and at worst, government extortion, the owners left the negotiating table.

Purchase of Adjacent Mitchell Street Property in 2003
During the summer of 2003, newly elected Councilmember David McLeroy was engaged in leading negotiations to purchase the Mitchell Street lot immediately behind and adjacent to the Old Methodist Church property. The Mayor was recovering from hip surgery.The sale was closed in December 2003.The purchase price was $58,000, with no record of any appraisals being made.

Some residents have questioned why the City purchased the 1/3 acre Mitchell Street property, said to be too small to accommodate the maintenance barn.The property contains a running stream and a steep drop-off at the rear.Owned by William Randall Patterson and Warren Dennis Boutwell, this property had been on the market for years, so why the rush?Was another plan in place for this property that is now coming into public knowledge?

All these real estate transactions were carried out in executive session, as was the prior custom. No record of any public vote can be discovered through Open Records requests.A public explanation given later was that the Mitchell Street purchase of 1/3 acre was to relocate the city maintenance barn, although in the beginning of 2003, the city had just spent $591,500 to purchase the 1.588 acre Wingo Street property for that stated purpose.

Council/DDA Actions In 2004
In 2004 concerned, preservation-minded citizens led an effort to convince the City to consider relocating the maintenance barn proposed for the historic Wingo Street gateway and save from demolition the four National Registry listed railroad era cottages on the property. The City was considering giving the DDA an option on the property in spring of 2004, but execution of an Option document to the DDA did not take place until November 1, 2004.Was this delay because the City wanted to be certain whether it could obtain the Church property?

The Wingo Street property was sold by the DDA in November 2005 to developer George Banks and his investor group for high density development.Sale price was $640,000, again without current appraisals. Former DDA Chair Rob Buck and the former City Attorney over-saw the sale to Mr. Banks’ group, Wingo Street Cottages, LLC.

• Read Article on this site, Summary of Legal issues on Wingo Street

Did 2003 Council Have a Plan?
The Peter Boyce letter clearly indicates that a majority of the City Council, including Councilman David McLeroy, supported the purchase of the Church property by the City.Observers report former City Council(s) had allowed one or more local developers to attend one or more executive sessions in violation of State of Georgia Open Meetings statutes.Lacking details about these executive sessions, we can only speculate: Lacking a public Master Plan, were members of a former council, in their own way, looking for a means to divest some of the church property for developing and recoup some of their purchase costs, just as the present council is considering?

 Unanswered questions can only lead to speculation until more facts become known.What concerns us now is the larger issue before the public of securing the Church property to control the direction of future downtown development and the significant impact of preserving the historic original 1875 Church building and Rectory in The National Registry district.

Current Contract Proposal
Early in 2006, Mayor Pro Tem Michael Lovelady approached the owners of the Church property, successfully negotiating a purchase price of $2 million for the property.With the land alone appraised at $2.25 million dollars, can the City afford not to buy the property now?
Owning this property not only preserves the historic church as a town centerpiece, but offers an immediate solution to parking shortage by immediately adding 64 centrally located spaces.

Obviously, more information is needed before we can make a comprehensive assessment of previous game plans, if any, or even attempt to understand why resident Rob Buck is making such a public fuss about present Council’s attempt to purchase the Church property that was envisioned by the LCI study as a conference center.The purchase was obviously an objective of the Council majority in 2003.The difference then and now appears to be in method of approach, presumably guided then by advice given and role played by the former City Attorney, Mr. Boyce in conveying the threat of Eminent Domain to the Church owners.

While learning from the past, we need to focus on the present plan that is before us and not be distracted by the opposition’s rhetoric.

The current negotiations were based on a current market appraisal and under these terms, if an agreement cannot be reached, the City through Mayor Pro Tem Michael Lovelady, has given the church property owners assurance that the 2003 condemnation letter will be withdrawn, hence time is of essence to preserve this contract.

We support the current proposal and have confidence that the current council will protect the historic aspects and is performing their best effort to operate in the open by informing the public before a deal is consummated.

The final public hearing on the church purchase will take place Wednesday, May 17 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall.

Save Historic Norcross will continue to monitor, report, and offer commentary on developments affecting the historic downtown district.