Melissa Bailey & Thomas MacMillan Photos
After buying a vacant lot from the city, Rev. Boise Kimber and his church spent over $100,000 on environmental cleanup to make way for a new sanctuary. Now the church wants the city to pay a tab it claims the city owes.
Those details come in a notice of claim filed against the city by Kimber’s church, First Calvary Baptist, on Sept. 25.
The suit concerns an abandoned Sealtest Dairy site at 193 – 201 Hazel St. adjacent to Kimber’s church at 605 Dixwell Ave.
Kimber, a powerbroker in the African-American community and a longtime supporter of Mayor John DeStefano, declined comment on the dispute, which pits him against the mayor in the month leading up to the Nov. 8 election. Kimber is backing DeStefano in the election.
Kimber’s church bought the 0.59-acre lot from the city for $35,000 in 2002. The purchase aimed to make way for a new sanctuary, to be built in time for the church’s 25th anniversary this year.
The church congregation paid over $100,000 for the cleanup, according to John R. Williams, the attorney representing the church.
The new sanctuary (in foreground of picture above) has been rising — slowly.
Williams indicated that the delay is the city’s fault: He said the city made a false claim when it sold the property.
“They represented that there weren’t any” environmental hazards on the site, Williams said.
“I think it’s pretty unfortunate situation,” Williams said, “because there’s very little doubt from the documents that I’ve seen that the city did know that there was a significant problem.”
The site used to hold a milk distribution site for Sealtest Dairy, according to Livable City Initiative’s Frank D’Amore. After the company abandoned the property, the city inherited it through foreclosure in 1993, then tore down the plant in 1994.
The lot lay vacant for years before the city found a buyer. On Jan. 16, 2002, it struck a deal with the church to turn over the land.
Reached Friday, Mayor DeStefano was asked about the notice of complaint from his political ally.
“I have no reason to believe it has any particular merit,” DeStefano said. “My understanding of the land transaction is that it was transferred as is.”
DeStefano said his staff would review the agreement “to make sure both sides are compliant.”
Victor Bolden, City Hall’s top lawyer, said Friday that the land was sold as a “quit claim deed,” which means it is sold “as is.”
The land disposition agreement from 2002 reads as follows: “The Developer agrees to accept, without qualification, the Property in the condition existing at the time of the execution of this Agreement.”
“We’ll evaluate their claim,” Bolden said, “but we see no basis for liability at this point.”
Meanwhile, the church is preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary without the new space to accommodate the crowd.
The church’s current building.
The congregation, which started meeting in June 1986 at the former Holiday Inn on Whalley Avenue, currently overflows its pews. The church at 605 Dixwell spans 3,700 square feet — too small for the 250 people who show up to worship there.
The church has added on a 5,000-square-foot expansion, which would double the size of the sanctuary.
Construction, which began in late 2008, is still under way.
Today, the walls are up, and covered in exterior sheathing. The sanctuary remains a cavernous space over a cement floor.
At the peak of the church’s triangular facade, an open space awaits a stained glass window. Amid the delays, pigeons have found a place to roost.
What is going on here? Kimber waits almost 10 years and suddenly thinks he has grounds for a lawsuit? Is there some shakedown attempt going on here -- that is, it's election season; the mayor is in a difficult race; I, Kimber have endorsed you; now I want a literal payback, to help finish my building that I don't have enough money for?
The unholy alliance between the mayor and this man continues to bear its unsavory fruit, win or lose this lawsuit (if it ever really goes to trial -- maybe this is an attempt at a quiet out-of-court settlement beforehand?). Time to get rid of this mayor and his ugly history of dealmaking.