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City lawyers present consent agreement with landlord Dennis Kefalanos; committee sends settlement plan to formal
Summary
Corporation Counsel described a consent agreement and facilitation addressing hundreds of regulatory violations across properties owned by Dennis Kefalanos; the committee forwarded the settlement plan to formal with a recommendation to approve.
The Detroit City Council Committee of the Whole heard from Corporation Counsel staff about a negotiated consent process aimed at addressing building-code violations and blight across properties owned by Dennis Kefalanos. The committee voted to send the matter to the full council with a recommendation to approve.
Conrad Mallett, Corporation Counsel, described a multi-week facilitated process led by retired U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts that cataloged the owner’s holdings and set a compliance framework for dozens of commercial properties. Counsel said Kefalanos identified 117 properties in the agreement. Under the plan, a receiver will inspect certain properties that the city believes require immediate demolition; the Beneteau property’s demolition will be paid for by the owner and was described in committee as costing roughly $850,000. The agreement also includes stepped obligations for securing and making “aesthetic improvements” to other properties so they do not remain visual blight on neighborhoods.
Mallett and his team said the consent process gives the city leverage in court to ask a judge to enforce compliance and to present the consent agreement as part of enforcement filings in the event of future violations. The counsel’s office said other enforcement tools (tickets, prior court actions) had repeatedly been required and that the consent agreement consolidates obligations and timelines for remediation across multiple properties.
Council members thanked counsel for the work and emphasized the larger problem of land speculation and related purchases at county tax auctions. Counsel noted that other counties in the region limit transfers of tax-foreclosed property to related parties; he suggested similar county or state-level changes could reduce speculative flips that court and enforcement staff say hamper remediation.
The committee approved forwarding the settlement plan to the full council with a recommendation to approve; committee members said the action would be shared with neighborhood groups and follow-up demolition schedules would be coordinated with the community.
