12/12/12 - A hearing is scheduled this week in Livingston County Circuit Court in the ongoing legal battle between the City of Brighton and an elderly Northville couple. Attorney Dennis Dubuc represents Leon and Marilyn Bonner, who own two homes on North Street that the City ordered demolished in January of 2009 based on its ordinance. That ordinance permits demolition of an unsafe structure deemed to be a public nuisance, without providing the owner the option to repair it. It was found unconstitutional by Circuit Court Judge Michael Hatty, a decision that was upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals. More recently, Hatty ruled the Bonnerâs lost their non-conforming use of the property as residential because they havenât lived in the homes or rented them out. Dubuc is now seeking a stay of proceedings from the Court of Appeals until it determines if the non-conforming use was validly denied by Hatty. He filed an application for leave to appeal with the court Monday, asking that it expedite his order although the case is still ongoing. He tells WHMI the stay is necessary to stop the process of ordering the Bonnerâs to bring the homes to commercial standards. The City of Brighton has been ordered to respond to the latest appeal filed by Dubuc no later than 6pm this Thursday. The parties are then scheduled to appear before Judge Hatty on Friday afternoon. (JM)
↧