Superior Land Swap Delayed

""" ■-■r " r ' ƒ r V A contract-signing ceremony scheduled for 10 a.m. today between Superior Township officials andan Ypsilanti church group, for the purpose of transferring approximately one acre of township-owned land to the church for proposed "self help" social programs, was delayed indefinitely this morning when township clerk Mrs. Ruth Eckert faileJ to attend the ceremony. The signature of Mrs. Eckert, an outspoken opponent of the contract, is legally required on the document, and without it the land sale would be void. Township Supt. William Papineau, an advocate of the present contract, was unable to explain the absence of his clerk. The sudden postponement of the transfer, at a minimal price of $3,000, followed last night's Township Board meeting, at which a revised version of the long-controversial contract wasi accepted by a split board vote of 4-3, with Papineau casting the deciding vote. Two reverter clauses were included in the revised contract, one extending for the "life of the contract" and the other meaning in legal terms, said Papineau, "until the end of the world." These clauses were inserted a f t e r much pressure was applied to the board to protect the interests of township residents, in the event that the proposed programs should fail and the New Bethel Church of God In Christ of Ypsilanti would be free to do as it pleased with the land, located on Stamford Blvd. In connection with this feeling, a third clause was also added to the contract, providing that the church cannot sell the land to any third party, but only back to the township. This is a permanent clause written into the contract by Ypsilanti attorney Vanzetti Hamilton The pair of reverter clauses, however, are designed to prevent the church from retaining the land for itself should the self help programs not go into effect, and provide that the land will revert to township use vvhen and if these programs are discontinued. A motion by Mrs. Eckert to again table the contract until I the township's master plan is updated and urban renewal is applied for was defeated in a board vote last night.