Lewes Library files suit over property in Five Points

The battle for a parcel of land near Lewes's Five Points has landed in court.

After months of back and forth with the Village of Five Points Property Owners Association, Lewes Public Library filed a lawsuit Aug. 19 in Sussex County Superior Court asking a judge to certify the library owns a 1.5-acre parcel deeded to it by a developer, so the library can sell it.

“We are seeking an order from the court declaring that the library owns the property and has met the contingency relating to the requirement that it build a library facility there within 10 years of accepting the deed,” said Hugh Leahy, president of Lewes Public Library Board of Commissioners. “This legal step is needed so that we can sell the land there to benefit the library as the donor intended.”

The library has publicly stated its intention to sell the property from the beginning, reiterating its goals in 2018 when its attorney wrote that it intended to sell the property to offset debt incurred in building the new library in Lewes.

The library contends that a library kiosk built in March 2019 satisfies deed restrictions approved by Sussex County in 2012 that required a “library facility” be built within 10 years on the property.

Definition of a library facility is at issue, with the association stating a book kiosk is not an approved structure. An architectural review committee's denial of the kiosk sent in March 6 stated that under association bylaws, a kiosk is not an approved enclosed structure. “Because the kiosk is not a permitted structure under the Guidelines and Review Process, such kiosk cannot be placed on the property,” the committee wrote.

The library, however, had received approval for the kiosk from Sussex County Planning & Zoning in November 2018, and they proceeded with construction under that approval – a day after receiving the committee's rejection, but more than three months after submitting kiosk details to the committee. Under association bylaws, the lawsuit states, the committee is required to make a decision within 30 days.

The library states it repeatedly contacted the association and provided all the required documents pertaining to the kiosk to an architectural review committee, but neither group agreed to meet with library officials.

On the day construction on the kiosk began, the lawsuit states, the association sent a Delaware State Police officer to stop it, but the officer refused to charge the contractor with criminal trespass.

The association later filed a Justice of the Peace Court suit alleging civil trespass against the unnamed contractor, but the suit was dismissed with prejudice, according to the lawsuit.

John Eikrem, president of the Villages of Five Points property association, made the association's position clear following a Cape Gazette story that outlined the library's repeated attempts to meet with association officials about the kiosk. In a letter to the editor published July 16, he referenced the library's intention to sell the property to pay off its debt.

“They want to solve their problem by handing us a problem – unsightly commercial development in one of the largest neighborhood open spaces in Coastal Delaware,” he wrote. “According to the county ordinance, the land will belong to us. We won't settle for anything else.”

In a previous interview, Eikrem said the association is working on creating a 501(c)(3) which would allow it to receive the parcel under the deed restrictions. Deed restrictions state if the association cannot accept the property, it would go to New Covenant Presbyterian Church – also named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The suit asks both the association and church to respond, and asks a judge to declare the association and church have no rights to the library property. “It is not the library's intention to cause the church any problem or unnecessary expense,” Leahy said.

The library contends it has done everything necessary to give it clear ownership of the parcel without deed restrictions, which would then give it the right to sell the property outright.

“The issue whether or not the association can or cannot qualify as a 501(c)(3) entity is moot in any event, since the library in fact accepted the library deed and gift of the library parcel and met other conditions,” the suit reads.

Eikrem declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Leahy said the board is disappointed that the property issue could not be resolved, requiring the library to file a lawsuit. “It takes away time and resources better spent on our significant goals in service to the community,” he said.