Church site in Bloomfield remains in legal dispute
A new maneuver to preserve the former Albright United Methodist Churchhas landed in a legal tangle.
The Methodist conference that owns the Bloomfield property at 486 S. Graham St. is petitioning for court intervention after Deborah Gross, a Pittsburgh City Council member, proposed historic status last month forthe 112-year-old building.
An earlier city effort to confer the designation was invalid, an appeals courtruled in June. Long opposed by the Methodist conference, the historic label would make demolition difficult without a convincing case for hardship or a condemnation of thebuilding.
“The actions of the City of Pittsburgh, and Councilwoman Deborah L. Gross, are a blatant attempt to improperly avoid the court rulings,” conference attorney Daniel W. Kunz wrote in an Aug. 9 filing before Allegheny County Judge Michael Della Vecchia. Ms. Gross’ proposal also marks “a contemptuous mockery of thecourt,” Mr. Kunz wrote.
Neither he nor the Western Pennsylvania Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church immediately commented Wednesday. In his Aug. 9 filing, Mr. Kunz asked the
court to order the city — and Ms. Gross — to show “why they should not be held in contempt for failure to comply”with prior decisions.
A court hearing is slated forOct. 10.
Ms. Gross declined comment to the Pittsburgh PostGazetteas she works with the city law department. The department would not elaborateamid pending litigation.
Earlier Wednesday, Ms. Gross asked council to postpone discussing her proposal for two weeks. She said city legal advisers are “still chewing on some of the issues aroundthe bill.”
Council agreed to the request, which followed a warning from Councilman Ricky Burgess. He told council Tuesday that it must withdraw the legislation. Any other moves could expose council to legal liability, Rev. Burgess said, adding that “thestate has spoken.”
Ms. Gross maintained some attorneys have a differentperspective.
The Methodist conference has sought to sell the former Albright property for more than $1 million to Ross Development. The developer has proposed a Starbucks in a reuse plan that could lead to the church’s demolition.
Preventing the property’s sale “takes away a substantial sum of money that we were preparing to address pressing needs in the Bloomfield, Friendship and East Liberty neighborhoods that surround the property,” conference attorney David J. Barton said in a prior statement.
He argued the conference’s beliefs “don’t permit us to elevate maintaining a building over addressing needs such as working to address urban hunger and creating more affordable housing.”
Still, more than 1,000 people signed a petition favoring the historic designation. Ms. Gross has called the building “clearly significant to a lot of Pittsburghers.”
ArchitectChauncey Hodgdon designed the structure in a Richardsonian Romanesque and Gothic Revivalstyle.