The Leland Township Board has given the green light to the Benzie-Leelanau District Health Department Board to refinance its mortgage or sell the Connie Binsfeld Resource Center in Lake Leelanau.

At its meeting Monday, township board members heard a report from district health director Bill Crawford on the status of the Binsfeld Center, which is located behind the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 7731 Hall off M-204 in Lake Leelanau. Crawford said the health department has been seeking to rent the 4,700-square-feet space that had been leased to the Leelanau Peninsula High School. The alternative high school for county students officially vacated the space on July 1 when it closed its doors following graduation.

Since then, Crawford said the department has had no success in finding another client to fill the space. The department currently owes $850,000 on the loan that was secured to build the facility through Leelanau sub-NHF (Northern Health Foundation) in the early 1990s. The foundation was created to allow the health department to receive a loan to construct the facility. NHF owns the property for the structure itself, although rent checks are made out to the district health department and the mortgage is supported through revenue generated through lease agreements.

Should the mortgage be paid off, Leland Township was designated to receive the building and land.

On Monday, Crawford said the health board has considered three options for the building, including:

• Finding another non-profit or educational entity to rent the space;

• Refinance the existing 12-year mortgage out to 20 years;

• Sell the building.

“We are interested in finding out what sort of financial compensation the township board would want if the building is sold,” Crawford said. He emphasized to the board he was not seeking any board action at the meeting, but he did want members to begin thinking about what they would like to see happen with the Binsfeld Center.

Crawford said adding to the difficulty of resolving the building’s future is that there is an excess of commercial properties already for sale around Lake Leelanau.

Crawford said if the health board decides to refinance, the mortgage would be extended for 20 years but the amount to be financed would be smaller than the original building price of $1.2 million. That could mean lower rents as well.

Supervisor Harry Larkin said if the health department sells the building and receives more money than it owes, he believes the township should get some share of the excess. He also agreed with other board members that the health department should explore the refinancing option. While a new mortgage would add another eight or nine years before the township could receive the building and property, board members said the township can be patient.

“I personally would like to see us agree to let them (the health department) refinance. Then the building comes to the township,” Trustee Steve Plamondon said.