Warren — Warren officials say a federal lawsuit filed against the city by a local church alleging harassment is partly tied to a house the city gifted the church, a property the city now considers a public nuisance.
Harvest Time Christian Fellowship, a nondenominational church on Nine Mile Road, and its pastor filed a federal lawsuit against the city and the mayor on May 19. A house the church owns at 11055 Jewett Avenue is part of the lengthy lawsuit.
Jeffrey Schroder, an attorney for the Warren City Council, said Harvest Time’s pastor, Curtiss Ostosh, is claiming retaliation under federal law against the church regarding a separate lawsuit over a house the church owns.
Schroder said the city gifted Harvest Time a house in 2019 with conditions, and the city is now trying to take back possession of the property. The city is arguing that Ostosh violated the terms of the conditions of the purchase agreement and that the house is a “public nuisance,” Schroder said.
“He has filed a federal lawsuit alleging religious discrimination ― that somehow the city of Warren is discriminating against his religion by conducting this case,” Schroder said of Ostosh.
But Ostosh said the house issue is “just one very minor point in the totality” of the federal lawsuit Harvest Time filed.
“Mr. Schroder didn’t talk about the other 100 points that we brought up ― the ongoing daily harassment at our church, the daily harassment that the city seized our vehicles, seized our property, seized our lawnmowers, took bicycles,” he said.
The city has issued citations against the church, which operates a food pantry, and Ostosh for alleged zoning and ordinance violations, according to Harvest Time’s lawsuit. The suit said the city has confiscated items from the church’s property.
Schroder acknowledged that the house issue is just one of the counts in the federal lawsuit. But he said it’s “not a small part” of the lawsuit, and it’s not “some afterthought.”
‘Overwhelming putrid odor’ during inspection
Schroder said the city gave a home on Jewett Avenue in Warren to Harvest Time for $1 in 2019 in exchange for “the promise that the property would be up to code in six months and be used for transitional housing for members of the church.”
Schroder said the city had to get a court order to inspect the property. A city inspector, another public service department official and one of Schroder’s colleagues were at the inspection on April 15. He said the inspector noticed an “overwhelming putrid odor” and “severe sanitation problems” in the property.
“They couldn’t move around because of the extensive garbage and debris all throughout the home,” he said, adding that animal feces was “all over the place.”
Schroder said the kitchen area was inaccessible, and the officials were “gagging” in the home.
He said the property represents “a clear and immediate threat” to public health and safety and requires “urgent” enforcement action.
“We are filing motions in the court to get this thing declared a public nuisance and to get this property back so it can be restored to a condition that is not a nuisance to the neighbors and not a health threat,” he said.
Ostosh responds to Schroder’s argument
Ostosh said Harvest Time Christian Fellowship paid $1 for the home as part of a program of the former Mayor Jim Fouts’ administration. Tax-reverted, dilapidated properties went to nonprofits, churches, veterans groups and foster care groups, he said.
He said neighbors told Harvest Time that the house was previously used for drug dealing, and squatters were living in it. They left after Harvest Time acquired the home in 2019 and secured it.
Ostosh said there was “tons of stuff in the house” after the individuals left, and he and church members took out “dumpsters of stuff” in the process of clearing out the property.
“More work needed to be done. We got sidetracked by a number of things,” he said, adding that his parents passed away and the COVID-19 pandemic occurred.
He said he doesn’t know the origin of the debris in the home, but some of it may be from people previously living there and some of it may be items the church had stored there.
He said he and others have spent hours at the house in recent weeks to finish cleaning up the home. He said he is asthmatic, and he didn’t having any gagging or breathing problems at the house.
The church has done “extensive remodeling” to the house, such as putting in new plumbing and installing a new furnace. he said.
Previously an inspector told Harvest Time that they didn’t care what was in the interior of the house, “just as long as the outside is maintained,” Ostosh said.
Schroder said media outlets covered Ostosh’s federal lawsuit.
“That’s part of the reason for the update here today is to clear the record for anybody who might be confused that there might be any merit to all to this lawsuit,” he said at the council meeting, “and of course, this is going to cost the taxpayers of Warren.”
asnabes@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: House gifted to Warren church now suing city at heart of conflict, officials say
Reporting by Anne Snabes, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Anne Snabes, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
