The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Historical Society calls meeting to confirm donations
Payment due on Gordon Hall
By Sandi Kasha, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 22, 2007
With an April 1 mortgage payment due date for Gordon Hall, the Dexter Area Historical Society and Museum took a step forward in trying to re-evaluate its finances.
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The historical society invited village and township officials to discuss Gordon Hall's finances Monday and to confirm their respective contributions for the project.
Paul Bishop, a member of the historical society, said Monday that the other intent of the meeting is to quell rumors that United Methodist Retirement Communities is taking over the Gordon Hall project by paying off the estate's mortgage.
"We also wanted to clarify that Gordon Hall is in very good shape," Bishop said, but added, "If you don't make your contributions, we won't be in good shape."
The historical society is to pay back the mortgage of $900,000 in a 10-year period, Bishop said.
Dexter Village contributed about $100,000 to the project and will donate another $100,000 over the next five years.
Scio Township offered $100,000 from its Purchase of Development Rights program and another $100,000 from its land fund over the next 10 years.
Webster Township contributed $50,000 through its PDR, but has yet to make any payments.
The historical society has received the village's $100,000 contribution, while Scio Township paid about $10,000 of its promised donation.
Bishop said UMRC has paid $300,000 of its $600,000 price tag for a 15-acre site to house a retirement community on the northwest corner of Gordon Hall.
"What we want in exchange from the historical society is a conservation easement," Webster Township Supervisor John Kingsley said. "We also want a clause in there that we won't be annexed into the village once they become a city."
Scio Township officials also expressed a desire for a conservation easement, which is a legal agreement between a landowner and a government agency that permanently limits uses of the land to protect its conservation values.
About 30 acres of the Gordon Hall property are in Scio Township and 37 acres are in Webster Township.
Fifteen of the 37 acres has been conditionally transferred into Dexter Village upon the request of UMRC.
Webster Township and the village's 1997 Act 425 agreement allowed UMRC's conditional land transfer, which is an alternative to annexation and is intended for the purpose of an economic development project.
Scio Township Supervisor Charlie Nielsen said that he would like a legally-binding document that would protect the township against any future annexation.
Scio Township Trustee Chuck Ream expressed his desire to keep the township's acreage in the confines of the township.
"Our taxpayers would never put up with it if we spent money to preserve land and then lost the land," Ream said. "If there is a problem with either of our conditions, then the money that Scio has put into this project will need to be refunded."
Bishop said that the historical society has no intention of having the Gordon Hall property in the village.
The historical society purchased the 166-year-old, Greek-revival architectural estate from the University of Michigan last year for $1.5 million. Since then, the historical society has been trying to refurbish the 5,000-square-foot mansion.
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