“We have Sacred Heart Church with City Council with the mayor slamming the gavel to approve the demolition of Sacred Heart Church,” Edward Stross said while showing off his latest painting.
Stross is making a statement on canvas and a stand in court. The Roseville artist is appealing the city’s decision to greenlight the construction of a Sheetz gas station and convenience store at Gratiot and Martin.
Stross contends the site is not zoned for a gas station, and the developers did not get special land use approval before their site plan was approved.
“It wasn’t done correctly, it wasn’t transparent, I never even got a notice on it,” Stross said.
EXTENDED INTERVIEW: Edward Stross speaks on his attempt to save Sacred Heart Church
But Stross’ legal efforts may be a long shot. The deal with the church is essentially don,e and Roseville is looking to get that case thrown out.
“I believe the City of Roseville followed all the required rezoning steps and planning steps for the rezoning and development of that property,” said Roseville City Manager Ryan Monroe.
Many who live and work in Roseville are against the Sheetz development.
“I personally am really upset about it. It’s devastating,” Lisa Myers said.
“And we don’t need another gas station. They’re all over. Costco is right across the Street. Amoco is right across the street,” Marissa Lord said.
“It just seems like a waste of old, precious properties like the church behind us. I don’t know a lot about it but I know it’s been here a long, long time and it’s got a lot of meaning to a lot of people,” Jerry Roy said.
But others, like Rob Markus, who runs Arnett's barbershop, support the development.
“The church has been vacant for nine years. There’s nothing worse in a neighborhood than a vacant building. It starts going to crap afterwhile, so I like the idea,” Markus said.
“The taxes on the new development would be a welcome addition to the city es pecially with bringing more traffic to that area of the city, that’s our downtown development district,” Monroe said.
LaChana Sadie owns Bamboo West, which sits across the street from the Sheetz development.
“It’s going to bring more people into the store, of course. That’s a positive aspect of it, however, I would’ve liked to see the church use their building as maybe something different. Maybe having entrepreneurs, restaurants, maybe a community center,” Sadie said.
Holly Fournier, Assistant Director of Communications for the Archdiocese of Detroit, released a statement saying:
The former Sacred Heart building is still under contract with a potential buyer. The building has been under contract four times previously with different buyers who ultimately chose not to proceed. While it is never easy to say goodbye to a church building, Sacred Heart has been vacant and unused for many years, during which time we have shown the property to about a dozen interested parties, including some who expressed interest in preserving the building. Ultimately, we are only able to work with those who come forward with offers.
Chris Moyer, a spokesperson for Sheetz, provided this statement:
Sheetz believes this matter was decided appropriately by the Roseville Planning Commission. We look forward to this project continuing and for the opportunity to eventually serve customers in Roseville.
READ THE LAWSUIT BELOW:
Stross v City of Roseville by WXYZ-TV Channel 7 Detroit on Scribd
