O'Delle K. Holt and her husband, John P. Holt, lived on the Holt family property on Crockett Road for many years in the 1900's, first in a historic home built in the 1830s by Mr. Holt's grandfather, then in a smaller but more modern home they built on the property. The Holt family had owned the property since the early 1800's. Mr. Holt died in 1984, followed by Mrs. Holt in 1993. When Mrs. Holt executed her will in 1984, she believed she owned a one-half interest in a 275 acre tract on Crockett Road. (The size of this tract was subsequently determined to be 263.98+ acres.) Mrs. Holt’s will granted a life estate in this one-half of the property to Mr. Holt's nephew, Charles Witherspoon, Jr., who also lived on the property. The will allowed Mr. Witherspoon the ability to sell off the property, but provided that this one-half interest in the property, or any remaining proceeds from the sale, would go to the City of Brentwood at Mr. Witherspoon's death to establish and/or maintain a public library to be named the “John P. Holt Library” in memory of her late husband. Mrs. Holt was apparently under the impression that the other one-half interest in this property was owned outright by Mr. Witherspoon.
The Board of Commissioners passed a resolution in 1994 asserting the City’s claim to any and all rights, title and interest due to the City under Mrs. Holt’s will. That resolution is attached.
In 2014, a surprising fact was discovered. Mrs. Holt's will was made out with the understanding that Charles Witherspoon owned one-half of the property. However, there had never been a conveyance of this one-half to Mr. Witherspoon, and in fact, the property was entirely owned by John P. Holt when he died in 1984. Since Mr. Holt's estate was passed on to Mrs. Holt, she became the owner of 100% of the property, rather than one-half.
In addition to the bequests granted to the City of Brentwood and others under Mrs. Holt's will, the will includes a residuary clause under which all property not passing to other parties would go to Brentwood United Methodist Church ("Brentwood UMC.") Although Mrs. Holt left Mr. Witherspoon a life estate in one-half of the property, her will did not provide for the other one-half since she apparently assumed, incorrectly, that Mr. Witherspoon owned that one-half. The discovery that Mrs. Holt owned all of the property meant that, under the residuary clause, one-half of the property actually went to Brentwood UMC.
A proposed sale of the Holt property to Pearl Street Partners was never closed due to Pearl Street's failure to receive approval for its development plan. Representatives of Mr. Witherspoon and Brentwood UMC then completed negotiations to sell the property to Mike Ford Custom Builders LLC for the sum of $10.5 million. The purchaser has partnered with CPS Land to develop the property. The purchase price was based on an assumed development lot yield of up to 127 lots under the existing R-2 zoning designation applicable to the property. The preliminary plan calls for 153 lots, excluding an 8.45 lot that includes the historic home. If the buyer receives final plat approval of a development plan providing for all of the 153 proposed lots, the final purchase price would be increased by $35,000 for each additional lot above 127. The City's yield from this price escalation would be $455,000.
A funding agreement between Mr. Witherspoon, Brentwood UMC and the City was signed contemporaneously with the agreement for the sale of the property. It provided for Mr. Witherspoon's share of the sale proceeds to go into a trust fund, from which his living expenses would be drawn until his death. On August 10, 2017, Mr. Witherspoon passed away. The current balance in the trust fund is over $4.2 million.
At its meeting on October 11, the Library Board unanimously passed the following motion:
That (the) Library Board recommend the City accept the monies from the John P. Holt estate, and that the Library Board recommend that the name of the Brentwood Library be changed to The John P. Holt Brentwood Library. Furthermore, after expenditure of money from the bequest to process the changes required by the inclusion of the John P. Holt name above The Brentwood Library in the official name of the facility, that the remaining funds be put in trust until a committee appointed by the Library Board and the Brentwood City Commissioners determines how best to spend the monies to improve the services of the Library benefiting the community.
Resolution 2017-78, if passed, will authorize the acceptance of the bequest to the City under Mrs. Holt's will, along with the renaming of the Library as "The John P. Holt Brentwood Library." Upon passage of the resolution, a copy will be provided to Independence Trust Company, which maintains the trust fund, along with a request to release the funds to the City.
The resolution includes authorization to initially use a portion of the funds to change existing Library signage and other logos/marks to reflect the Library's name change. Otherwise, the funds will be held in trust until a plan is developed for their use. Upon approval of this resolution, staff will prepare an inventory of all such existing signage and logos/marks that will need to be modified due to the name change. Once this inventory is complete, a cost estimate for this work will be presented to the City Commission for funding authorization.
Please contact the City Attorney if you have questions about this matter. |
Resolution 94-27, asserting the City's claim to any and all rights, title and interest due to the City under the last will and testament of O'Delle K. Holt, was passed on October 10, 1994.
Resolution 2015-39, authorizing the Mayor to execute a “contract for purchase of real estate with Charles Witherspoon, Brentwood United Methodist Church and Mike Ford Custom Builders, was passed on June 8, 2015.
Resolution 2015-40, authorizing execution of a funding agreement with Charles Witherspoon and Brentwood United Methodist Church to establish a plan for the distribution of the net sales proceeds from the sale of the Holt farm property, was passed on June 8, 2015.
Ordinance 2015-12, rezoning most of the Holt farm property from R-2 to OSRD, was passed on final reading on October 26, 2015. |
| With the renaming of the Library, funds held in the Witherspoon-Holt Trust account by Independence Trust Company will be transferred to the City. As of 9/8/17, the balance in the Witherspoon-Holt Trust was $4,242,846. Additionally, it is possible that more money may be due to the City and Brentwood United Methodist Church under the terms of the property sale agreement. The agreement included a purchase price escalator, under which the purchase price would be increased by $35,000 for every lot approved over 127 lots. Excluding the historic homesite, the subdivision plan calls for 153 lots. The preliminary plan calls for the subdivision to be developed in eight sections. Thus far, final plats for three sections have been approved by the Planning Commission. Approval of Sections 7 and 8 will push the total number of lots over 127. If all 153 lots are approved and recorded, the City and the Church will be due an additional $455,000 each. |