TRAVERSE CITY -- Meijer Inc. and the Village at Grand Traverse LLC paid a citizens group $75,000 for a promise to refrain from suing over a contentious development and election law violations.
Members of Concerned Citizens of Acme Township on Wednesday signed an agreement with Meijer, the Village, the Traverse City law firm of Smith & Johnson Attorneys PC, and the Grand Rapids public relations firm Seyferth Spaulding Tennyson Inc. The citizens group agreed it wouldn't sue Meijer or its partners.
It's the third time since late 2007 that Meijer paid to settle lawsuits or potential litigation related to the retailer's actions in attempting to build a store off M-72 in Acme.
Meijer, through the Village, paid Smith & Johnson to hire Seyferth to manipulate a 2005 township election in violation of state campaign finance law. Meijer repeated the process in 2007 when it paid Seyferth to manage the attempted recall of the entire Acme Township board.
The agreement signed Wednesday states it is not an admission of wrongdoing by any party, but instead "a gesture of goodwill" by Meijer and the Village.
Meijer and the Village were partners in a would-be development along M-72 in Acme. They approached CCAT after settling a lawsuit in April in which the developers agreed to pay five Acme officials $1.5 million.
Additionally, Meijer in 2007 paid former Acme Treasurer Bill Boltres an undisclosed sum to settle a malicious prosecution lawsuit.
"We were at first reluctant, but in the end we felt we negotiated a good deal for CCAT," said Paul Brink, a member of the CCAT board. "We are not prevented from participating in any future (zoning) requests, if and when they pursue approvals from Acme Township."
The agreement also doesn't protect Meijer or the Village from legal claims that may "arise from the use of illegal surveillance activity," Brink said.
"We negotiated for that clause because some of our current and former board members have occasionally seen strange cars at strange times around their homes," Brink said. "We are not accusing anyone, but have enough suspicion that we negotiated this exclusion into the release."
Meijer representatives did not return calls seeking comment Wednesday afternoon.
CCAT's involvement began when it sued Acme Township in October 2004, after a lame duck township board approved the Village at Grand Traverse. CCAT alleged the proposed 2.4 million-square-foot commercial and mixed-use development to be anchored by Meijer violated Acme's master land use plan.
Meijer and the Village intervened in the lawsuit when newly elected township board members agreed with CCAT.
"In the end, it became a battle over not only reasonable and appropriate commercial development in our township, but also a frontal assault on the democratic process," said CCAT president Denny Rohn.
CCAT, a nonprofit organization, will use some of the funds to help with township projects, while retaining enough to maintain a strong financial position, Rohn said.
Attorney Timothy Stoepker and his firm Dickinson Wright PLLC were not released from liability by any parties in the agreement. Stoepker represented both Meijer and the Village throughout the lawsuits and election-tampering activities.
None of the parties were interested in releasing Stoepker, Rohn said.
Brink declined to comment when asked if CCAT intended to pursue legal action against Stoepker.
Rohn believes there is more to the story of what occurred in Acme Township between 2004-08 and hopes one day all details will emerge.
"Sometimes, the curiosity just kills me," Rohn said. "We all think there's something big, bad, and ugly still out there that they are all afraid of."
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