Members of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions voted Feb. 23 to seek a declarative judgment in circuit court to resolve a property dispute with the homeowners’ association of Halcyon Forest subdivision in Montgomery.
At issue is whether the association’s architectural review committee has standing in the disagreement between the SBOM and the homeowners’ association and if so, if the committee is “unreasonably withholding” approval of a development scheduled for property the SBOM is trying to sell.
The disagreement revolves around a 13.96-acre tract of land at the intersection of Taylor Road and Interstate 85 in Montgomery, which is located in front of the subdivision. In 2007, the SBOM voted to sell the property, which it has owned since 1986.
A prospective buyer seeks to put a development on the property that would include a four-story Hyatt Place hotel, two upscale restaurants, a financial institution or an office building and two small retail centers. Deed restrictions on the property specify developments must be approved by an architectural review committee and approval cannot be “unreasonably withheld.”
SBOM Associate Executive Director Bobby DuBois told board members during a meeting at Samford University in Birmingham that a year of negotiations had produced a stalemate. DuBois said on Feb. 12, the SBOM was notified the homeowners rejected what he described as a compromise offer that would cost the SBOM more than $1.7 million in concessions.
“Now we have no choice but to walk away from the deal or seek a declarative judgment concerning the architectural review committee and whether it is unreasonably withholding approval,” DuBois explained.
Mickey Castleberry urged his fellow board members to “walk away from the deal.”
Castleberry, retired pastor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Montgomery, is a homeowner in the subdivision. He described himself as “being on both sides” of the issue since he voted to sell the property but opposes the proposed plan for it.
Castleberry said he does not want pedophiles looking out hotel windows at his grandchildren playing in a swimming pool or alcohol sold at restaurants a few feet from his property line. He also charged that the integrity of Alabama Baptists’ witness against alcohol would be undermined by knowingly selling to an investor who planned to have restaurants that sell liquor.
But DuBois noted a list of changes to the original development proposal designed to appease homeowners, including relocating the hotel so no windows overlook the subdivision except windows at the end of the halls. Those windows would have one-way glass so one could look in but no one could look out, he said.
Rusty Sowell, senior pastor of Providence Baptist Church, Opelika, and chairman of the SBOM’s properties committee, said his charge is to do the best he can with board resources. “I believe it is in the best interest of Alabama Baptists to sell this property when we have a signed contract,” he said.
“We cannot sanitize the property anymore than we have. I do not believe any other developer will give these kinds of concessions.”
Sowell offered a motion that the SBOM seek declarative judgment against the homeowners’ association. Fees to cover the legal action will come from interest income. No Cooperative Program funds will be used, the motion stated.
When the vote was taken, the motion was overwhelmingly approved with only scattered opposition.
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