Judge denies library and church claims to Five Points property

A complaint filed by the Lewes Public Library seeking ownership of a plot of land in The Villages of Five Points, and a local church's countersuit that said the land belongs to it, have both been denied in Sussex County Superior Court.

“Both parties have moved for summary judgment; however, both concede there are issues of material fact,” wrote Sussex County Superior Court Judge Richard F. Stokes in his Aug. 14 decision. “Both the library and church's motions for summary judgment on the issue of whether the library's rights to the property have vested are denied.”

The battle over a 2.5-acre parcel of land in the Villages of Five Points began in 2019, after the Lewes Public Library built a book kiosk on the property that was deeded to it in 2012. The developer of a parcel of land that now includes the CVS Pharmacy off Savannah Road deeded the parcel to the library with the condition that it would be used as a library facility.

No definition of a library facility was included in the deed, leaving the court to determine what constitutes a library facility. It found that the definition could mean a library building similar to what the Lewes Public Library eventually built in Lewes, or a library kiosk, which library officials constructed in order to vest the Five Points parcel for library use within the 10-year deadline given by the deed.

Without discovery, however, Judge Stokes wrote that it is unclear what the developer who donated the property intended.

“Because discovery has not taken place, the court finds summary judgment is premature,” he wrote, regarding the library's claim that it owns the property.

As for New Covenant Presbyterian Church's counterclaim that asked the court to give it the property, the library still has until 2022 to construct a library facility, Stokes said, if it turns out that a kiosk does not fulfill the developer's definition.

“The deed allows the library a total of 10 years to satisfy the conditions and vest its right to the property,” he wrote. “If the library does not satisfy the terms within the 10 years provided by the deed, the church can then file and seek a declaratory judgment to its rights.”

Stokes said the church's counterclaim is dismissed without prejudice, which means if the matter becomes ripe in the future, the church may then seek a declaratory judgment regarding its rights in the property.

Also in the mix was the The Villages of Five Points Property Owners Association Inc., which had staked a claim to the property.

In March 2019, the homeowners association board began fining the library $50 a day because it said the library did not receive architectural approval for the kiosk. The back-and-forth continued with complaints filed by both the library and association. By October 2019, however, the association moved for dismissal of its counterclaim because it did not have a 501(c)(3) subsidiary. The original deed provided that the deed would be transferred to a 501(c)(3) owned by the association if the library failed to build a library facility.

In previous court documents, the association said it created a nonprofit corporation with the Delaware Department of State known as the Villages of Five Points Community Enhancement Foundation Inc., and the foundation had applied for 501(c)(3) status with the Internal Revenue Service.

The Villages of Five Points Property Owners Association President Victor Padilla did not respond to a question as to whether the foundation had received 501(c)(3) status, or whether the POA was still interested in the parcel of land.