The developer renovating Ypsilanti's historic Starkweather Home will not have to pay the city $25,000 in late fees under a resolution passed Tuesday by the City Council.

The resolution deems renovations complete on the home, once a stop on the Underground Railroad, and waives any fees that developer Ron Rupert would have faced.

Previously, at a Dec. 7 council meeting, there was some debate over whether the renovations could be considered finished.

If the council had instead determined Rupert had not completed work on the house by a July 2009 deadline, he could have owed more than $25,000 in punitive late fees.

The resolution Tuesday was placed in the consent agenda, a collection of items that are approved without discussion. It stated that the council “finds that it is satisfied with the progress and the plans for continued modification as presented by Mr. Rupert.”

It also said that the council is “satisfied that the terms of the agreement have been completed.”

Assistant City Attorney Karl Barr and Rupert disagreed over whether the terms of the contract had been met at the council’s Dec. 7 meeting. Although no work has been performed on the house since then, Barr wrote a memo to the council, which was included in Tuesday's council packet, recommending Rupert's release from any further obligations.

Barr explained after the meeting Tuesday that he had given two presentations over the last two years on the home’s status. The council appeared satisfied with the progress and declared “mission accomplished” after the second presentation Dec. 7, Barr said.

The home’s previous owner intended to tear down the structure. Barr said the council expressed to him that its main objective was to see the home saved.

The previous owner donated the home — which now has its own historic district — to the city in 2005. The city put out a request for proposals to renovate the home, and Rupert was subsequently awarded the project and sold the home for $9,000.

Under the purchase agreement, Rupert was to renovate the exterior and have all the work completed by March 2009. But Rupert was injured in an accident and ran into unforeseen circumstances, so the council granted him an extension in April 2009. Parts of the exterior were to be renovated by July 2009 or Rupert faced $50 per day in late fees, per the modified agreement.

A December 2010 memo from City Planner Teresa Gillotti to the city's Historic District Commission stated that the roof was not completed, the frames and some siding hadn't been replaced, and windows remained broken.

Additionally, temporary support beams still propped up the roof over the home’s two porches.

Barr told council members during the Dec. 7 presentation that they have three options. The council could strictly enforce the contract; it could consider the renovations complete and waive the fees; or it could give an extension on the deadline.

At the December 7 meeting, Council Member Brian Robb also raised nepotism concerns over the issue, because Rupert had worked on his house. Robb said Rupert was friends with other council members, but Rupert said he had no relationship with other council members beyond city business.

“This was a debacle from the very beginning," Robb said after Tuesday's meeting. "Hopefully council realizes that when they over step their bounds, it will only turn into a disaster. In the future, the city needs fewer disasters."

Following the Tuesday's meeting, Council Member Mike Bodary said he didn’t think the terms of the contract were entirely met and said Rupert may have made a mistake in saying he could complete the work so quickly. Yet Bodary added that there was significant progress made over the last several years.

"It’s not getting into the realm of being dangerous or becoming a public menace like other buildings I can mention,” he said.

Bodary said the city shouldn’t pursue fines because it would involve a court fight and the money probably wouldn’t have been recovered.

“We would end up with the building back, and it's not in the city’s best interest to get back into that ownership," he said. "And Rupert has put a lot of time and expense into it, he got a good deal to begin with, and hopefully he can turn it into a good-looking project.”

Mayor Paul Schreiber said the main purpose of the deal was to save the home from demolition, and he was satisfied that had happened.

“If you look at the intent of creating an historic district around the house, what we wanted to have happened there has happened,” he said. “As I said at one of the earlier meetings, it’s time to declare victory and move on.“

Tom Perkins is a freelance reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at 734-623-2530 or news@annarbor.com. For more Ypsilanti stories, visit our Ypsilanti page.