Thursday, March 28, 2013
The West Bloomfield Police Department is investigating whether the two men were after copper.
Detectives with the West Bloomfield Police Department are investigating whether two men located in the area of the former Eagle Elementary School over the weekend were attempting to steal copper from the building. West Bloomfield firefighters responded to a fire alarm at the building in the northwest corner of 14 Mile and Middlebelt Roads, at about 7:30 p.m. on March 23. They found no signs of fire but told police about an open door at the vacant building, and that two men were seen running from the property, reports said. Officers responding to the scene located the two men described by firefighters nearby and detained them while they contacted the building's new owner. A representative from the Islamic Cultural Association (ICA) …
42.52895
-83.34051
W 14 Mile Rd & Middlebelt Rd, West Bloomfield, MI
/articles/police-detain-intruders-at-former-eagle-elementary-school-building
/locations/9121118
Thursday, March 7, 2013
The plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the sale did not take action following the State Supreme Court's refusal to hear their appeal.
More than a year and a half after Farmington Public Schools officials approved the sale of the former Eagle Elementary School building to the Islamic Cultural Association, the district has collected $1.1 million in sale proceeds. Assistant Superintendent David Ruhland confirmed Wednesday that the funds were transferred to the district a little more than three weeks after the Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a lawsuit filed by two district residents. In September of 2011, plaintiffs Eugene Greenstein and Melvyn Sternfeld filed a lawsuit, claiming they would be negatively impacted because they live near the property located in the northwest corner of 14 Mile and Middlebelt Road. Sternfeld, a real estate broker, argued …
42.52895
-83.34051
W 14 Mile Rd & Middlebelt Rd, Farmington Hills, MI
/articles/farmington-schools-collects-1-1-million-from-2011-sale-of-eagle-elementary
/locations/8959453
Saturday, February 2, 2013
The sale of Eagle Elementary School to the Islamic Cultural Association will not involve the Michigan Supreme Court.
The Michigan Supreme Court will not get involved in the sale of Farmington Eagle Elementary School to the Islamic Cultural Association, a deal which has attracted critics from around the neighborhood. The brief order dated on Friday from Lansing means that the appeals court ruling which said that plantiffs Eugene Greenstein and Melvyn Sternfeld had no standing to sue Farmington Public Schools will stand. The former school building on 14 Mile Road west of Middlebelt Road in West Bloomfield was sold in November 2011 to the ICA, which is based in Franklin, for $1.1 million. That money waits in escrow pending the final outcome of the lawsuit. Some residents nearby claimed that the deal was corrupt and the public was not well-served. Meanwhile…
42.528941
-83.340848
Farmington Public Schools
29410 W 14 Mile Rd, West Bloomfield, MI
/articles/state-supreme-court-rejects-appeal-of-west-bloomfield-mosque-opponents
717509
/locations/8732619
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Attorney Robert Davis says a high court appeal is under consideration.
After the recent denial of their appeal to an appellate court ruling, the plaintiffs in a lawsuit over the sale of a Farmington Public Schools building to the Islamic Cultural Association (ICA) may take their case to the state's highest court. In an email to Farmington-Farmington Hills Patch, attorney Robert Davis said plaintiffs are looking at asking the Michigan Supreme Court to hear the case. "At the same time," he wrote, "we are continuing to oppose local zoning approvals." Davis represents Eugene Greenstein of Farmington Hills and Melvin Sternfeld of West Bloomfield, who last year sued Farmington Public Schools over the sale. The former Eagle Elementary School building on 14 Mile Road west of Middlebelt Road was sold in November to …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
At a Zoning Board of Appeals site visit Tuesday, officials tabled two requests from the Islamic Cultural Center.
Developers of a mosque at the corner of 14 Mile and Middlebelt Roads in West Bloomfield Township have requested that plans slated for review at the Planning Commission's Oct. 23 meeting be tabled. That request, which Islamic Cultural Association (ICA) representatives said was made to address concerns, led the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to table requests for a determination on height limitations for some of the building's architectural features and for an exemption from a requirement to build a masonry wall on the west property line. During a Tuesday site visit, residents during public comment raised a number of issues, from whether it is appropriate to have a 3-4 story building on the property, to concerns about traffic. Long-time …
Friday, October 5, 2012
Officials plan a visit to the former Eagle Elementary School site to review requests for exceptions to the zoning ordinance for a minaret and spire.
The West Bloomfield Township Zoning Board of Appeals on Thursday night scheduled a site visit to better understand concerns of residents surrounding the former Eagle Elementary School site. Last year, Farmington Public Schools sold the building to the Islamic Cultural Association (ICA), which has requested zoning ordinance variances that representatives see as necessary in order to build a mosque/community center at the site. The board unanimously tabled those requests. The board also disregarded two variance requests that were proposed as alternatives to the developers' preferred requests. Instead, the board approved, by a 3-2 vote, new construction of paved areas used for cars, and for the largest of two domes to be built at a height …
Friday, September 28, 2012
Islamic Cultural Center development at former site of Eagle Elementary School now goes before township Zoning Board of Appeals Oct. 4.
A public hearing scheduled regarding the site of the former Eagle Elementary School in West Bloomfield has been moved, to accomodate the Jewish Sukkot holiday. The Township Zoning Board of Appeals will meet on Thursday to discuss a number of variances to the site plan for the Islamic Cultural Association, a local organization which hopes to build a mosque/community center at the site formerly used by Farmington Public Schools. Township attorneys have requested that the ZBA interpret the township zoning ordinance with regard to several issues raised at the Aug. 15 Planning Commission meeting — including the height of the minaret and dome atop the mosque portion of the building, the size of the setback from the street, and the fencing …
42.528941
-83.340848
Farmington Public Schools
29410 W 14 Mile Rd, West Bloomfield, MI
/articles/update-public-hearing-for-mosque-developers-rescheduled
717509
/locations/7930770
Monday, September 24, 2012
Islamic Cultural Center development at former site of Eagle Elementary School goes before township Zoning Board of Appeals Oct. 2.
Plans to build the Islamic Cultural Center, a mosque/community center at the site of the former Eagle Elementary School in West Bloomfield, will next come before township government for a public hearing Oct. 2. Township Planner Sara Roediger said Monday that homeowners near the school at 14 Mile and Middlebelt roads have been notified of the meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to grant a number of variances to the site plan, after the Planning Commission tabled the plan at its Aug. 15 meeting. Township attorneys had requested the ZBA to interpret the township zoning ordinance with regard to several issues raised at the Aug. 15 meeting — including the height of the minaret and dome atop the mosque portion of the building, the size …
42.528941
-83.340848
Farmington Public Schools
29410 W 14 Mile Rd, West Bloomfield, MI
/articles/mosque-developers-variance-requests-coming-to-public-hearing
717509
/locations/7900535
Friday, September 21, 2012
The Michigan Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a Circuit Court ruling on the case brought by two local residents over Farmington Public Schools sale of the building to the Islamic Cultural Center.
The Michigan Court of Appeals on Friday affirmed a trial court's ruling that dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the sale of Eagle Elementary School to the Islamic Cultural Association (ICA). The former Farmington Public Schools building at 14 Mile Road west of Middlebelt Road was sold in November to the ICA for $1.1 million. The group plans to operate a mosque and cultural center on the site. "We are pleased to hear of the appellate court decision," Superintendent Susan Zurvalec wrote in a release. "We hope this puts us a step closer to resolving this matter. This would make available to the students of our district the funds of the sale which are in excess of one million dollars that are intended to support teaching and learning." …
42.528941
-83.340848
Farmington Public Schools
29410 W 14 Mile Rd, West Bloomfield, MI
/articles/eagle-school-lawsuit-dismissal-upheld
717509
/locations/7887342
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Yesterday's oral arguments in the Michigan Court of Appeals lasted just about 20 minutes, Farmington Schools assistant superintendent David Ruhland said.
Farmington Public Schools and the residents suing the district over the sale of the Eagle Elementary School property may know as soon as early October whether a circuit court ruling that dismissed the case will be upheld. The Michigan Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case yesterday morning. Farmington Schools Assistant Supt. David Ruhland attended. "There honestly isn't too much to share," he said. "The oral arguments only lasted a total of 20 minutes." Ruhland said the judges "made it very clear that they were famliar with the briefs that had been filed and understood the facts of the case, and that this was a single issue case, and that was whether or not the plaintiffs had standing." Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Rae …
Sue Burstein
2:12 pm on Sunday, March 10, 2013
@ Art, and @ Darren...just wondering if "persepctive" has anything to do with how these articles are written. Joni is a liberal, and has written that she is a liberal. That is fine, we are all entitled. But, lets face it, our "bent" overshadows how we write even "just the fact, m'aam" articles. When she was with the Observer, and now with the Patch, they were/are always in the tank for whatever … more ›