By Tom Gilchrist
Staff Writer
MAYVILLE — Caro Community Hospital leaders said they’ve sold a vacant parcel of land in downtown Mayville to the Spring of Life Community Church, though Mayville village President Clare Fryers said he had asked the hospital to give the land to the village for use as a farmers’ market.
The hospital — which paid to demolish a former doctor’s office on the site on the southeast corner of Fulton and Turner streets — sold the corner parcel to the Mayville church on Wednesday, according to Marc A. Augsburger, hospital president and chief executive officer.
Augsburger declined to reveal the purchase price.
“I don’t know what they’re going to do with the building, but they were very excited to get it from us, since they own a building in very close proximity” to the corner property, Augsburger told the Advertiser on Thursday.
Fryers said on Wednesday that he had asked the hospital to donate the land to the village so the village could create a farmers’ market on the corner. The village owns a vacant parcel of land adjacent to the vacant corner property that Augsburger said was sold to the church.
“I wish the hospital would give it to the village of Mayville so we could turn it into a prosperous area,” Fryers said. “We could clean it up and have a pavilion sitting there, if nothing else.”
Fryers said there’s a group of people willing to operate a farmers’ market in Mayville.
When asked about the possibility of the church buying the corner parcel, Fryers said “They have every right to buy what they want to buy, but there’s no tax base to it — they don’t pay any property taxes.”
Mayville Village Council member Tony Windham said he’s pleased the church bought the property.
“I’m happy that someone’s going to use that space, whether that be a farmers’ market there or the church,” Windham said. “At least something’s going to be done and the land’s not going to stay empty.”
The Advertiser could not reach Spring of Life church officials for comment. The church owns what it calls a “resource center” building along Fulton Street next to the village’s vacant lot. Last year, church member Jeanne Hotchkiss said the church hopes to create a resource center inside the building to sponsor youth activities, provide information on preventing teenage pregnancies and assisting pregnant teenagers and those battling alcohol dependency or other drug problems.
The resource center also could host parenting classes and a counseling program, according to Hotchkiss.
In 2013, Fryers accused the hospital of “showing no gratitude or respect” for Mayville by failing to demolish the hospital-owned building on the southeast corner of Fulton and Turner. Village leaders said the vacant structure was a dangerous building.
Demolition of the building earlier this year, and site improvement afterward, cost the hospital almost $20,000, according to Augsburger. The hospital razed its building after the village paid to knock down the adjacent building at 6105 Fulton St., once owned by James A. Hascall II. The village took over ownership of the Hascall building after Hascall failed to pay property taxes on it, according to Fryers. Mayville’s Downtown Development Authority paid the tax debt along with the cost of demolition and cleanup, Fryers said.
“We have about $20,000 into that building, with lawyer fees and everything,” Fryers said.
Now that the hospital and village have paid to demolish adjacent buildings, the southeast corner of Fulton and Turner streets looks better, according to Fryers.
“It’s a lot better but now the Spring of Life church is saying we might have damaged their (resource center) building” when workers demolished the adjacent structure formerly owned by Hascall and now owned by the village, Fryers said.
Church members have sought money from the Mayville DDA to help pay for fixing the resource center. Village officials have sought an opinion from the village attorney on whether it’s legal for the DDA to provide funds to a church.