A church on the former Fort Ord is slated for demolition, but its pastor isn’t budging.

On the walls of Christian Memorial Tabernacle in Seaside, a banner with the words of Luke 6:38 graces the wall: “Give and it shall be given unto to you. Good measure, press down and shaken together and running over, shall men give unto your bosom.”

Sam Gaskins, the church’s pastor, says the Army gave him the church about two decades ago, but that he lost the documents that would prove it. The city of Seaside, meanwhile, owns the property and is now seeking to redevelop it, and delivered a 60-day eviction notice to Gaskins in March.

The city’s lawsuit against Gaskins, filed in June in Monterey County Superior Court, states that the city had negotiated a lease with Gaskins in 2001, but that he declined to sign it.

“The lease was month-to-month,” Gaskins says. “Churches don’t sign leases month-to-month. That’s crazy, that’s suicide.”

The lawsuit also states that the city sent a notice to Gaskins – who has never paid rent on the property – to vacate the premises in October 2011, but that he never did. In 2014, the city assessed the market-rate rent for the property at about $4,750 per month.

Bill Conners, Seaside’s attorney in the case, says city officials recognize the good work Gaskins is doing in the community, but that the city’s hands are tied.

“There is a separation of church and state,” Conners says. “Local governments can’t gift public funds. It doesn’t matter what our heart says.”

Gaskins’ church sits on land that is part of the 85-acre, 1,200-plus-unit Campus Town project in the former Fort Ord that’s been proposed by developer KB Bakewell Seaside Ventures, LLC, which entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Seaside in December 2016.

Conners says city officials have met with Gaskins a number of times to try and accommodate him – like offering Gaskins to hold his services at Oldemeyer Center for $30 each Sunday – but those negotiations have not borne fruit.

David Balch, one of Gaskins’ attorneys, says the scope of the church’s work extends beyond delivering weekly sermons. “The church doesn’t exist for two hours, one day a week,” Balch says.

The church also serves meals to the needy, offers them free clothing and a place to park their cars to sleep in at night.

Gaskins, who is running for Seaside City Council, has received support from former Congressman Sam Farr, who has written two letters to Seaside on Gaskins’ behalf.

The most recent letter, dated March 2018, asks that the city transfer the land to the church “without cost.”

But Conners says that’s not possible.

“The city can’t just give him a church,” Conners says. “That’s not the way the law allows it to work.”

Attorneys for both sides are in negotiations, but if those don’t work out, the case is set to go to court Sept. 10.

“We’re trying to find a way that can help him continue to do what’s he’s been doing,” Conners says.

Gaskins, for his part, is girded for a struggle. “My intention is to carry this all the way to the White House if I can,” Gaskins says, “and if I lose, I lose.”