The Dalton Township board has finally rid itself of an old problem by selling off the site of the old Twin Lake Civic Center. The proceeds of the sale will not be used as a scholarship fund for local students, which was the intention of the original owner.
For years the Civic Center, owned by the Twin Lake Civic Association, was a community meeting place that was used for various purposes, including wedding receptions and other social gatherings.
In 2009, the Civic Association donated the building and lot at 5988 East St. to a religious group called the Unity of Faith Community Church, based in Dearborn.
One stipulation of the transfer specified if the property were ever sold, the first $50,000 in proceeds would be donated to create a college scholarship fund for students of the Reeths-Puffer, Whitehall and Holton school districts.
As the years went by, that stipulation lost its legal standing because Muskegon County took possession of the property due to a tax foreclosure, and eventually sold it to Dalton Township.
The township board recently voted to sell the now-vacant site for only about $12,000 - less than the $16,000 the building’s demolition cost after it fell into disrepair, let alone the $50,000 originally earmarked for the scholarship fund - but the board still considered the possibility of turning over the proceeds to create the scholarship fund.
However, at their June 10 meeting, the board of trustees rejected that idea by a 7-0 vote, citing the fact that the township had lost tax money on the property. The proceeds from the sale will go back into the township’s general fund instead.
“A good thing, of course,” Dalton Township Supervisor Jeff Martin wrote about the scholarship idea. “However, the township has spent more on the purchase of the property and the demolition of the building than what it was sold for. So the township has lost money on the property and therefore the scholarship would add more to that loss.”
The fate of the old Twin Lake Civic Center took some unfortunate turns in the years after it was deeded to the Unity of Faith Community Church.
It was not used for anything, fell into extreme disrepair and eventually collapsed, according to Martin. After several years, Dalton Township officials gained the legal right to demolish the building for public safety reasons, and that occurred in 2014.
“That’s the biggest thing I remember about it,” Martin said about the collapse of the structure. “I was living in Twin Lake at the time when it collapsed, and then it sat like that for a while. I think it collapsed partially because of snow.”
The cost of the demolition was tacked on to the property tax bill, but the religious group fell several years behind on the taxes. Muskegon County eventually foreclosed in 2018, and Dalton Township purchased the single-lot site from the county not long after that, Martin said.
Within the past few years, representatives from the Unity of Faith Community Church came back and demanded the return of the property, claiming that as a religious organization it did not have to pay property taxes, Martin said.
The township disputed that claim, because the building was not being used for religious purposes, and maintained ownership of the lot, according to Martin.
“They emailed and essentially said, ‘You stole our property, give it back,’’’ Martin said. “It was very accusatory. I said I would look into it, since I wasn’t here when it all happened. As it turned out, religious organizations can’t just buy anything and not pay taxes on it. They have to use it for religious purposes.”
More recently, church officials expressed a desire to buy the lot from the township, according to Martin, but nothing ever came of it.
“They came to a board meeting, or several board meetings, and they finally decided they would be willing to purchase it,” Martin said. “They said they just had to get permission from their organization. I had a good talk with them after one of the meetings, they left, then we never heard from them again.”
Several parties recently expressed interest in the site, the township put it out for bid and it was sold to an individual for a little more than $12,000.
That revived the issue of the initial deed stipulation that called for the creation of the scholarship fund with proceeds from the sale of the building.
Board members, though, decided given the stipulation’s loss of legal standing, that the top priority was limiting the loss for township taxpayers.
