Town to raze former church building

SELMA — A judge has ordered the demolition of the former church building at 109 W. Waddell St.

In a complaint it filed last Sept. 7, Selma petitioned the courts to declare the crumbling building a public nuisance and safety hazard. The complaint named Selma Islamic Center and Free Spirit Missionary Baptist Church as defendants. Selma Islamic Center had bought the building from Free Spirit, which was financing the purchase.

The town’s complaint said the building was guilty of “numerous health and property nuisances,” including “the unsafe structure and roofing” and “unsafe wiring and heating systems.” The town called the building a fire hazard with broken windows and “other unsafe conditions.”

Free Spirit never responded to the town’s complaint. Selma Islamic Center did, saying it planned to restore the building and had retained an engineering firm and architect to design the work.

But in an order on May 29, Superior Court Judge John Smith sided with the town. “The court finds there is probable cause to believe that a nuisance … was maintained upon the property … for several years in violation of North Carolina General Statutes and the Selma Municipal Code,” the judge wrote.

Smith ordered Free Spirit to pay $7,676.94 in court costs and attorney fees.

In a consent agreement that Superior Court Judge Tom Lock signed on June 10, Selma Islamic Center agreed to pay the cost of demolition. It has six months to do so interest-free, and if it doesn’t, the town can sell the property.

In its news release, the town said demolition would begin in August at a cost of $80,000.

Free Spirit owned the building for nearly 33 years, and during that time, the town and county building inspectors served the church with several notices requiring Free Spirit to make repairs, according to the news release. But that never happened, and the county ultimately condemned the building, the town noted.

“After it was posted as condemned and uninhabitable, Free Spirit Missionary Baptist Church sold the property to Selma Islamic Center,” the town said.

Judge Smith’s order calls for demolition of the church but not the former day-care building on the property.

The town had long held off on seeking the building’s demolition, hoping that Preservation North Carolina could find a buyer for the property, which Selma has rezoned for business use.

The church building is more than 100 years old. The congregation at Selma Baptist Church built the sanctuary in 1908, then added an office and classroom wing in 1948.

The post Town to raze former church building first appeared on Restoration NewsMedia .