Portsmouth church suing City Council
Legal action alleges apartment complex project was derailed
PORTSMOUTH — New Bethel Baptist Church in Portsmouth planned for years to develop an apartment complex in the lot just across the street, but the land sits empty and a different developer has gotten approval from the City Council to build 280 units.
The church is blaming the council for derailing its project and filed a lawsuit against them for $5.35 million, according to court documents.
The church’s assistant pastor is City Councilman Mark Whitaker.
Whitaker was a driving force behind the redevelopment project at the site of what was once the Bonne Villa Apartments on Greenwood Drive, which had been poorly maintained, a hotspot for crime and a nuisance for residents of Cavalier Manor.
The church bought the property in 2005 for $1.8 million, and the City Council granted a permit for the project in 2009. The plan was to tear down Bonne Villa and replace it with 234 units in six three-story buildings. The apartments were subject to numerous code and maintenance violations, and the church demolished them in 2013.
A developer applied to build a 280-unit complex in 2016, but the council rejected the project, citing the density. Both the church and the Planning Commission have noted that the rejected proposal was similar to one that was approved by the council this year.
In court documents, the church alleges that the city targeted the property in 2018 when the council updated its master planning document and voted to change the land use from multi-family to single-family units.
At the time of the vote, the council was notified specifically about the proposed revision to the Bonne Villa site’s land use.
Whitaker told The Pilot in 2019 that within the previous year, the church was still working on developing the apartments.
It’s unclear how the land use change would have affected the church’s permit to build apartments on the property.
The church’s bank estimated the change to the land use decreased the property’s potential value from $2.2 million to $1.3 million and made it unlikely to garner interest from a buyer, according to court documents. Whitaker told The Pilot that developers lost interest as well. The church’s development company declared bankruptcy in March 2019, and the bank took over the property and sold it for $400,000, documents state.
In April of this year, a new developer came forward with a plan for 280 apartments in seven fourstory buildings. The Planning Commission cited the land use and recommended denial, but the council approved it by a 5-1 vote. Mayor Shannon Glover voted against it but didn’t say why, and Whitaker abstained, citing a legal matter. Some residents shared concern with the density of the apartments in a largely single-family neighborhood. City Council members touted the need for apartments to attract younger residents.
In court documents, the church argues the City
Council’s actions were “arbitrary and capricious” and prevented the church from making use of its permit to develop the property, causing the church to lose it and any potential profits.
The church is suing for $5 million in losses and $350,000 in punitive damages and has demanded a jury trial. Interim City Attorney Burle Stromberg said the church’s attorney sent him a copy of the lawsuit, but it has not been served to the council.
Whitaker said the lawsuit aims to address an injustice
his church faced. He said the council’s actions and the legal issues he’s previously faced related to this project were a “well-orchestrated” effort to penalize him and his church for standing up for social issues and equity.
In 2018, Whitaker was convicted of three counts of forgery in a case that stemmed from seven $5,000 loans issued by the credit union run by New Bethel Baptist Church to hire a subcontractor to clear debris from the Greenwood Drive property. Two of the loans were issued to Valor
Contracting and its owner, who testified at trial he did not sign the related documents.
Whitaker, who was a councilman at the time, lost his seat upon conviction, but Gov. Ralph Northam restored his rights in 2019. Whitaker maintained that his prosecution and conviction were wrongful.
He also told The Pilot he was targeted by a political rival, former Sheriff Bill Watson.