Fair Oaks PC, now a congregation in the EPC in Fair Oaks, California, has reached a property settlement with the denomination nearly four years after it began the process of departing from the PCUSA.

According to the Fair Oaks Web site, negotiations with the Synod of the Pacific concluded on Nov. 8 with a handshake agreement that now is being reviewed and up for approval in the coming weeks. Originally handled by Sacramento Presbytery, the synod later took over prosecution of the lawsuit against Fair Oaks.

In exchange for paying the PCUSA $1.1 million plus half its attorney fees from the legal fight over the property, the denomination will drop all claims on the $10.5 million property.

According to a 2008 Layman article, the congregations had agreed to settlements of $250,000 (Fair Oaks) and $160,000 (First Presbyterian Church in Roseville, Calif.), but challenges in ecclesiastical and secular courts derailed the previous agreements.

“We think it is a very good deal,” Fair Oaks pastor the Rev. Kirk Bottomly said in a blog entry. “Of course, nobody likes buying something they already paid for. But if we had to rebuild our facility elsewhere, it would run well over $20 million. … If we are re-purchasing our church, it’s cheaper than 5 (cents) on the dollar.”

Bottomly estimates Fair Oaks’ share of the denomination’s attorney fees to total between $100,000 and $150,000. Payment is due by March 15, 2011, and the 1,000-member congregation already has started raising funds for the settlement.

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