MONTGOMERY, Ala. (ABP) – A judge has blocked development of property owned by Alabama Baptists, finding that an agreement allowing a neighboring homeowners' association to sign off on any site plan is still in force.
That Alabama Baptist State Convention wants to sell 14 acres of land it purchased in 1986 alongside Interstate 85 in Montgomery to a developer with plans to build a hotel with restaurants and shops. According to local television station WSFA 12 News, neighbors in the Halcyon Forest Homeowners' Association do not object to the original plan to build a new Baptist headquarters building on the site but don’t want a four-story hotel overlooking their back yards.
Three years ago the state convention decided to sell the land and use proceeds to purchase cheaper property more centrally located to the majority of its churches for anticipated future building needs. After a year of failed negotiations, the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions voted in February 2009 to sue the homeowners for unreasonably hindering development of land the state convention is trying to sell.
According to Channel 12 in Montgomery, the judge in the case ruled Oct. 27 that the neighborhood association has the right to approve any development plan for the land. The attorney for the East Alabama Global Development Group, the company that wants to build on the site, said he disagrees with the ruling and that his side would ask the judge to reconsider.
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Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Previous ABP story:
Alabama Baptists headed to court over property dispute (3/25/2009)