THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 21, 1995 TAG: 9502210300
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GREG GOLDFARB, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Long : 184 lines
Michael E. Evans has heard all about what others plan to do with the deserted, 170-year-old Ferry Farm Manor House.
Some want to live in it. Others want it to become a museum. All want to preserve it.
But, Evans adds, there's one big problem: They don't own it.
He does, Evans says, and he's ready to fight the city to prove it.
``Nobody did anything with the house until we came along,'' said Evans. ``I'm shocked at the question now of ownership. If they're (the city) going to get it, they're going to have to battle it out. I don't know what choice we have.''
Evans didn't expect complications last summer when he bought what appeared to be an abandoned two-story brick building in the Old Donation Farm neighborhood, where custom-built houses cost from $200,000 to $700,000.
But the deteriorating structure Evans purchased has become the centerpiece of an 8-year-old moral and legal controversy over who owns the house and what promises were made by whom about what would become of it. Neighbors, City Council members, state legislators, attorneys, historic preservation supporters, the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts and developers have all been dragged into the dispute.
``I just can't believe there's a question about the ownership. It had just come on the market,'' said Evans, a flooring contractor and resident of Broad Bay Point Greens. ``We were probably one of the first ones to look at it.''
Evans, his nephew Aaron Evans and two other investors paid $50,000 last June for the house.
They offer court records, a deed and $200,000 worth of title insurance to prove they bought the house and property. It has an assessed value of $299,875, up from $214,585 in 1989, following $106,000 in repairs made to the house in 1988 by Old Donation Farm developers F. Donald Reid and Jerry T. Womack.
Despite Evans' claim to the house, some insist he can't own it because it was supposed to be used by the city, or by the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, as a museum, not a private residence.
``There's a cloud over the title,'' said City Councilman Louis R. Jones, in whose Bayside borough the 19th century house stands. ``I don't know what's going to happen to it other than it should end up back in the hands of the city.''
City records show that in 1969, Seaboard Savings Bank held title to the property as trustee for the J.C. Hudgins Estate. On Sept. 11, 1969, title went to Ethel Howren, whose estate then received it Feb. 8, 1983, after her death.
Reid and Womack were deeded the property Dec. 31, 1986. Old Donation Farm Associates, formed by Reid and Womack, held the title from Feb. 27, 1987, until April 20, 1989, when it deeded the house as a gift to the arts center.
A year later, the arts center gave the house back to the developers, but it stayed in the arts center's name from 1989 until April 12, 1994. ODF Associates then sold it June 13, 1994, to Aaron Evans, Michael Evans, James S. Conway and Robert L. Garretty.
Michael Evans and his partners now want to sell the house to Gary and Wilma House, a claims manager and antiques dealer, for about $100,000.
The Kempsville couple are seeking $300,000 in state funds to acquire the house, restore it and live in it permanently. They would open it at least four times a year to the public, and try to place it on the National Register of Historic Places. They also said they will take out a second mortgage on their home, if necessary, to buy the Ferry Farm Manor House.
But neighbors are upset that the developers sold the house to Evans and his partners without taking it first to the City Council. Whether Reid and Womack had the legal right to sell the house will likely be determined by a judge.
``Council's conditions did prohibit the arts center from giving the house back (to the developers), but it's kind of a hazy thing, legally,'' said Karen Lazley, planning operations coordinator for the Virginia Beach Planning Department.
Moody E. ``Sonny'' Stallings Jr., the Houses' attorney, asked the City Council in December to lift restrictions prohibiting the house from being used as a residence. Council members denied the request, 10-1. Stallings is appealing the decision in Circuit Court.
``In theory, ownership could be up in the air,'' said Stallings. ``Was it legal for the arts center to give it back to the developers? We don't know. But, the city's control is over restricting the use of property. The city's not in the loop to own that property. They don't have the title.''
The city plans to contest Evans' and his partners' ownership of the house. The city also is applying for $165,000 in public funds to install a new heating and cooling system and new plumbing and electrical work in the house, and restore it.
This action reflects the city's intention to convert the house into a museum, featuring environmental, transportation and historical themes.
Reid, who served for eight years on the city's Planning Commission, including when the Ferry Farm House was discussed, said the confusion now is over interpreting the unfunded, council-imposed mandates and restrictions placed on the house years ago.
``In my opinion, the City Council and the planning director should set some course for the current owners to care for the property, for the good of everybody,'' said Reid. ``I would not be opposed to it being (used as a residence) except, to go back and undo it is unfair to the people who bought there.
``The best of all worlds would be to make a museum out of the house. Butthere's nothing I can do. It will be impossible to come to an agreement on the interpretation of the zoning restrictions. (The language) is not precise enough to be interpreted properly.''
Reid said that as a planning commissioner he went out of his way to be sensitive to the house's legendary past. It is the same site where Grace Sherwood was jailed after being accused of witchcraft and dunked in the Lynnhaven River. The house also served as one of Princess Anne County's first courthouses.
``I did everything I thought was best for the city,'' Reid said. ``That is a very historical house.''
But, he added, he wasn't required to take the house back to the City Council before selling it.
``There was no requirement to do that,'' Reid said. ``I don't think anyone thought about it.''
Former Councilman Harold Heischober said, ``The house was going to go to the arts center and they conveyed it back to the owners, I think. I don't know if the city owns it, but I think the line of title has a cloud on it. I think the city could challenge that conveyance.''
Heischober said the house should be used as a museum, but those plans ``fell apart'' after the arts center let the house go.
``It should have reverted back to the city, but they've made a political issue out of it.'' said Heischober. ``Who screwed up? I don't know.''
Glenn Swick, president of the Old Donation Farm Homeowners' Association, said most of the nearly two dozen property owners want the house used as a ``low-traffic, year-round museum,'' but not as a residence.
``We're just asking that the covenants that were in place be upheld,'' he said.
Another neighbor, Sharon DeCandia, said that anyone trying to move into the house is doing so ``under false pretenses.'' She wants the property to be used as a museum on a daily basis.
Evans, who defends purchasing the house and his desire to sell it for use as a private residence, also defends Reid.
``He's out of it and has been out of it for a long time,'' Evans said of Reid. ``A lot of promises were made that weren't kept, and Reid took all the hits.''
Evans said he and his real estate broker, Jim Beverly, tried to talk to the neighbors, but no one would give them an audience.
Womack said he can't discuss the situation because he doesn't know any details of past agreements.
``He (Don Reid) handled all of it, but we're out of it,'' said Womack. ``I had nothing to do with any of it. Lawyers handled the whole thing. There was a whole group of lawyers involved; and you know, any time you have more than two people involved in something, there's going to be a controversy.
``The best way to preserve the house, though, is for someone to move in and live in it.''
Councilman Linwood Branch, the only council member to vote in favor of using the house as a private residence, said he thought the Houses' plan ``was a sure thing and would have restored the house.''
But, as to what was to happen if the arts center didn't want the house, he said, ``That was always a little sketchy to me.''
Jo Howren, president of the recently formed Friends of Ferry Plantation House and former daughter-in-law of Ethel Howren, has organized a meeting at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Pembroke Meadows Elementary School to increase public awareness of the house.
She predicts Evans will not own it for long.
``The city will own it,'' she said.
``Absolutely not,'' said Wilma House. ``That's a smoke screen.''
State Sen. Clarence Holland, who is assisting the Houses in their grant request for acquisition funds, said something needs to be done.
``I'd like to see it saved in some fashion,'' said Holland, a Bayside resident. ``I don't have any problem with anyone living there, but I don't think they should use it as a business.'' ILLUSTRATION: PETER D. SUNDBERG
Michael E. Evans, Robert L. Garretty and two other investors paid
$200,000 for Ferry Farm Manor House in Virginia Beach. But some
insist they can't own it because it was supposed to be used by the
city or the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts as a museum.
STAFF MAP
PHOTOS BY PETER D. SUNDBERG
Michael E. Evans
Robert L. Garretty
KEYWORDS: HISTORIC HOME DISPUTE by CNB