DETROIT (WXYZ) — Michael Bonk was recently stunned to find out he was being sued by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and the Detroit Land Bank Authority.
The lawsuit centered around a dilapidated house he owns next to the old St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr Roman Catholic Church on Detroit's east side.
The property fell to Bonk's responsibility decades ago after he and other church members founded a non-profit to renovate the house for affordable housing but found themselves losing money to thieves.
"They stole the fixtures that we bought to put in, the new doors, the insulation was ripped, everything was taken," Bonk said. "You just have to say enough is enough at some point."
By 2000, Bonk said they threw in the towel and he alone has paid the few hundred dollars a year in property taxes since.
And like some other property owners, Bonk has hoped a buyer would come along to offer to buy the house that needs a substantial amount of money to renovate, if it can even be saved at all.
"If the city wants it, then be fair to me and give me something for it. Don't just say, well, we're taking it because we can," said Bonk after recently finding out about the lawsuit filed by the city and the Land Bank under the Nuisance Abatement Program.
Under the Nuisance Abatement Program, a judge could side with the Land Bank, allowing them to seize the property.
The program is designed to combat blight and rebuild neighborhoods for the welfare of the community.
"If the owner steps up and says, 'I want to take care of my property,' we say, okay, enter into an agreement," said Land Bank CEO Tammy Daniels. "But not taking care of their property or continuing to let it sit in a blighted condition is never going to be the answer. That's never going to be the solution and that's never going to get them off the hook."
The Land Bank recently began a new city-wide push in their nuisance property program, going after more properties that may be causing safety and quality of life issues for neighbors.
Blighted properties are first tagged with a large poster that reads, "Notice to abate nuisance. The condition of this house and yard is a blight and public nuisance, in violation of city codes."
The property owner has three days to contact the Land Bank to enter into an agreement to remedy the nuisance property. They are then given six months to show progress.
If a property owner does not respond, the Land Bank files a nuisance lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Property owners have 28 days to respond to the lawsuit and failure to respond will result in the Land Bank seeking a default judgment which would give the Land Bank title to the property.
At any time up until final judgment, the owner can come forward and enter into an agreement to abate the nuisance on the property, according to the Land Bank.
Bonk, who is in the first wave of the new push, said he was surprised to receive the notice, in part, because he said he's never received a single blight notice from the city in the 30+ years he's had it.
But blight notices are not necessary for the Detroit Land Bank to take action under the Nuisance Abatement Program.
If blight notices do stack up for some property owners or the property is creating a safety hazard, the city can intervene and demolish the house and the owner could be stuck with a hefty bill for demolition.
"I would say do your due diligence before you purchase something like this, or if it's something that you do own, then make an effort to fix it, secure it, get it on the market, and find a buyer," said Bonk in his advice to others. "If you have the resources, tear it down and just maintain the lot."
Bonk said he doesn't have the money to renovate the property and he's still holding out hope that someone will come along and offer to buy it from him before it's lost to the Land Bank.
Daniels said in order for the Land Bank to dismiss their lawsuit, the property has to "be at a place where it is no longer a visible eyesore on the neighborhood."
Daniels said if they didn't tag a vacant, blighted house in the first wave of this push, another city-wide survey of properties will begin in about six months.
"We're advocating on behalf of the neighbors who are living next to these blighted eyesores who are afraid to walk by. They're afraid their kids are going to get dragged into them," Daniels said. "And what we find is a lot of people are just sitting on their property. They have no motivation to fix them up."
