Christine Ferretti

The Detroit News

Detroit — Some residents in Sherwood Forest are suing the city — and their own neighborhood association — so they won’t have to pay extra for supplemental services such as snow plowing, mosquito spraying and security.

The historic community is one of three upscale neighborhoods in Detroit with city approval to levy an additional fee on property owners’ summer tax bills to pay for the expanded services. But the new fees have left some who don’t want to pay for them at odds with neighbors who approved the costs.

The special assessment districts are permitted under an ordinance adopted by Detroit’s City Council in spring 2014. The petition-driven initiative is the first of its kind and allows neighborhoods to raise money from property owners to supplement certain services, as long as 51 percent within the district approve.

In March, the council signed off on assessment plans from groups in Sherwood Forest, Palmer Woods and Detroit’s Golf Club District. But not everyone is cheering the annual, seven-year levy.

Residents in two of the three neighborhoods have filed legal challenges against the city and their own neighborhood associations over the process. In Sherwood, Nicola Blackman and her neighbors, Margie and Lezley McCall, are the named plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court last week, seeking to prevent the $250-a-year tax from being collected.

A similar lawsuit in Palmer Woods has since been dismissed.

The Sherwood Forest residents contend the ordinance creates a two-tiered service model for Detroit based solely on a neighborhood’s ability to pay and fear the rules will expand, putting other service burdens on residents. The law, they argue, is unfair and doesn’t give those living within the district enough say.

The declaration, they claim, “muddies the waters” as to whether the Sherwood Forest Association wants to be known as a neighborhood association or to function as a homeowner association.

“I understand how hard it is to get people to pony up. I get it, believe me, but this is not the way to do this,” said Blackman, a longtime Sherwood Forest resident. “It’s nothing but a back-door way to get people into a homeowner association. It’s not a club house, swimming pool or landscaping of common areas. We’re talking, quite frankly, core city services.”

Margie McCall added the plaintiffs want to see the case wind its way through the court system to an “appropriate solution.”

“I think we have a viable case,” said McCall, a retired legal assistant. “We don’t bring this injunction frivolously or as a knee-jerk reaction. If we are going to progress as a city, thrive as a city, all neighborhoods equally need to thrive.”

But Sherwood Forest Association President Maurice Telesford defended the effort he said is about “empowering neighborhoods.” His group, he said, spent about two years surveying neighbors with meetings, mailings and newsletters before the special assessment district was approved.

Historically, about 50 percent of neighbors chipped in $350 each year for security patrols. More than 100 who favored the new fee, he said, didn’t subscribe in prior years. Telesford said the tax brings the cost per household down, and he’s confident a majority of the neighborhood is behind it.

“The benefit of this ordinance is it’s not driven by the city, it’s driven by the local community,” he said. “It’s not the city saying, ‘You have to pay more.’ It’s a neighborhood saying ‘we want to have augmented services in addition to what the city provides and we have the resources to make that happen.’ ”

Telesford said the number of residents who signed on — roughly 300 out of 480 homes — illustrates the education and outreach.

“I’m confident we’re on the right side of the law here,” he said. “This is a new ordinance in the city. So any time that we do something new, some people will be frustrated and concerned because they didn’t feel they knew enough.”

In Palmer Woods, the district covers 312 parcels and would cost $495 per year. The Golf Club area includes 132 properties at $400 each year.

Councilman James Tate said he sponsored the ordinance after various communities said they wanted the option.

Tate said he believes few communities in Detroit will be able to participate in the districts. He’s more concerned with seeing what can be done to raise the level of basic services.

“That is the goal,” he said. “How do we improve them to the point where there won’t be a desire for special assessments?”

The Sherwood lawsuit contends the neighborhood group failed to do its due diligence, noting informational meetings held last fall were poorly attended. They also question if there are “appropriate assurances” the city will properly collect and distribute the funds.

Detroit Corporation Counsel Melvin Butch Hollowell noted similar ordinances are common across the country and “we’re very confident it will pass muster under legal scrutiny.”

A separate suit, brought by a Palmer Woods homeowner challenging the validity of the process, was voluntarily dismissed, he added.

“Anybody is free to make any assertions that they would like to,” Hollowell said. “In coordination with the City Council, we pass ordinances very carefully and believe in the process and know that it’s been designed in an appropriate and defensible way.”

The assessments are allowed under a 2011 amendment to Michigan law for a city with a population of more than 600,000.

The controversial program was first approved in 2014, but an existing code — requiring 80 percent of residents within a district be current on their property taxes — proved unattainable and prevented groups from pursuing the effort.

New hope came last spring when the council voted to soften that code, lowering the requirement to 60 percent to match a threshold in place for business improvement zones.

A number of neighborhood groups have long voluntarily contributed money for additional snow and security services. But the new ordinance is different because it requires every neighbor to pay up, as long as a majority approves.

Each assessment is designed to run for a minimum of seven years and property owners could face foreclosure proceedings if they fail to pay.

The nonprofit Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp. in northwest Detroit acted as the catalyst for the ordinance, spearheading a citywide coalition and a campaign to gain support for the creation of a special assessment district in five northwest Detroit communities.

Today, the group is circulating a petition to establish its district. If approved, the measure would cover about 6,000 households, said Tom Goddeeris, executive director of the GRDC.

The proposal calls for a $250-a-year fee for street and sidewalk snow removal and 24-7 security patrol services. The soonest the community could get its assessment collected is 2017.

Goddeeris said he isn’t surprised to hear that some residents are raising issue with the tax.

“There’s nothing in a neighborhood that you are going to get 100 percent agreement on,” he said. “The fact that it has to do with tax dollars is a hot-button issue for people.”

But the public engagement, he said, can also be tough. Those driving the Grandmont Rosedale effort have attempted to educated the residents but still have individuals who say they haven’t heard about it, he said.

The ordinance requires qualified neighborhood organizations to initiate the intensive process of engaging neighbors, interviewing contractors, setting budgets and coordinating with Detroit’s Finance Department to prepare petitions. The Finance Department also serves as fiduciary for the money.

Each petition must contain specifics about the circulating group as well as a description of district boundaries, services to be funded, preliminary estimates of the assessed cost of services from three contractors, expected costs and the proposed term.

Once the proper signatures are obtained and verified, a public hearing is held and the council votes on whether to enact the district.

When the seven years are up, residents could seek to renew their assessment through a new petition drive. People can also work to end it, using the same petition-led process, Goddeeris noted.

“It’s a newer concept here,” he said. “People will become more comfortable with the idea once they see it in action.”

cferretti@detroitnews.com