Summit First Baptist Church is taking legal action against the Town of Summit’s moves to block the church from building parking lots on the sites of three houses, saying the town council is using vague and unenforceable laws to keep it from fulfilling its spiritual mission.
In the past few months, the church bought three houses and demolished two, with plans to add parking lots to its already sprawling campus, which has expanded with the demolition of other homes in the past.
Neighbors in the area protested, saying the church’s plans aren’t in line with the city’s growth and will bring disruption and lower property values to the area.
Town councilmen voted earlier this month to deny the church conditional use permits that would allow it to build parking lots in residential zones, but that action came after councilmen had already given the church the go-ahead to demolish the houses.
With two houses gone and another in the process of being removed, church officials are upset that they have spent thousands of dollars and are now left with only vacant lots.
The church filed a notice to appeal and a bill of exceptions against the town in Pike County Circuit Court on Thursday.
The church is asking a judge to force the town council to approve site plans and zoning permits for the parking lots, and to pay its legal fees.
While Summit First Baptist isn’t seeking monetary damages from the town, it “reserves the right to pursue both state and federal claims for damages,” according to its court filing.
As part of its argument, Summit First Baptist says the town’s rejection of the church’s plans prevents the church from exercising its legal rights, and the town is in violation of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act as a result.
“The church has been made aware that they have been damaged due to the city’s allowing them to destroy (the houses) in anticipation of them building parking lots,” said David Brewer, the church’s attorney and a member of Summit First Baptist. “They have only chosen to pursue the administrative remedies available at this time because, ultimately, as the landowner, they would just like to be able to use the parking lot as facilities for members and other church uses.”
In its filing, the church takes exception to the town’s zoning ordinances, calling them “impermissibly vague” because the laws give minimum requirements for church parking spaces but no maximum.
“The innocent church has been trapped by these vague ordinances as they absolutely fail to provide fair warning as to the maximum size and number of parking spaces,” the church’s filing states.
Councilmen said they believe the church already has more than enough parking spaces, based on the ordinance’s minimum requirements, but the church disagrees.
In moving to deny the zoning permits, Councilman Daryl Porter Jr. said the church’s plans do not “promote the public health, safety, morals or general welfare of Summit and adversely affect adjoining properties.”
Summit First Baptist also disputes the councilmen’s claims that it has negatively affected neighboring properties, saying instead that it has, “in fact, historically improved the city through the acquisition and use of its properties.”
Citing Matthew 28:16-20 in its court filing, the church says the town benefits from the church and its parking lot, which is used as a staging area for parades, training ground for the volunteer fire department and occasional hurricane shelter, and all of this demonstrates its “great commission” and “ministry in the community.”
Town officials have asserted in the past that the church initially moved ahead with its construction plans without seeking the proper permissions from the town.
However, the church maintains that the town was well aware of its plans from the beginning, and that it had expressed them to zoning administrator Wayne Parker when it sought demolition permits.
“With full knowledge of the church’s intent, the state sanctioned the destruction and removal of the homes,” the filing states, adding that its newly acquired property has lost value that could have been recovered by rent or sale, had the properties not been torn down “at the state’s behest.”
The church says “it would be inequitable and direct contravention of all traditional notions of fair play” if the town’s decision were upheld.
Summit Mayor Percy Robinson declined comment Friday.
