(This story has been updated.)
FLINT, MI — The House of Esther is asking a Genesee County Circuit Court judge to block the city from selling property that the organization says it has the right of first refusal to purchase — the former St. Agnes Catholic Church.
Paul Taylor, an attorney for the nonprofit group, asked Judge David J. Newblatt for the temporary restraining order in a motion filed Thursday, Sept. 29, just days after the Flint City Council voted down a resolution asking Mayor Sheldon Neeley to halt the sale of the property and the eviction of the House of Esther.
A city spokeswoman said Friday, Sept. 30, that the city has received the court filing but did not comment on it.
Earlier this year, the city condemned the former St. Agnes property on Pierson Road and locked out the House of Ester, which has spent years attempting to convert the former church campus into a home for first-time mothers with nowhere else to turn.
Flint officials changed the locks at St. Agnes on Friday, May 13, following years of uncertainty over the future of the property, which the city has said it now plans to sell.
The city received the property after Genesee County foreclosed on it in spring of 2019 after Reginald Williams, the former owner, failed to pay more than $71,376.87 in property taxes.
Although the City Council approved a resolution more than three years ago, allowing Yvonne Penton, founder of the House of Esther, to purchase the property for roughly $71,000, the city never received payment and officials have said buildings on the campus now pose a hazard and constitute a nuisance.
Penton has said her group has since secured the money needed to buy the property and should be given the first opportunity to purchase it.
The House of Esther’s request for a temporary restraining order says officials for the organization have made multiple attempts to persuade the city to offer the property to the group in exchange for the payment of delinquent taxes owed, but “these efforts were rebuffed by the city.”
The lawsuit says the City Council’s initial offer to sell the property to the House of Esther was not valid because the city did not hold title to the land and buildings at the time.
It says if the city is able to sell or contract to sell the property, the organization’s claim for a right of first refusal will become moot.
The court filing says the city’s own policy for the disposition of tax foreclosed properties gives occupants the right of first refusal to obtain ownership.
Read more at The Flint Journal:
Flint council pumps the brakes on potential eviction of planned maternity home
Flint condemns former convent where home for first-time moms was planned
Judge sets date for retrial of Flint water crisis case that ended with hung jury
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