Hawaii church gets OK to pursue First Amendment claim

By The Associated Press

10.28.02

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HONOLULU — A federal judge says a Maui church’s zoning dispute won’t be decided based on a federal religious land-use law but will instead be decided on First Amendment grounds.

On Oct. 24, U.S. District Judge Samuel P. King also dismissed members of the Maui County planning commission and the county planning director from the lawsuit filed against the county by the church over the zoning of its property.

In a ruling on a motion for dismissal, King decided that the case wouldn’t be decided based on the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 — or RLUIPA.

Hale O Kaula, supported by the Washington, D.C.-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, sued the county and the Maui Planning Commission under the federal law last year. Signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 2000, RLUIPA exempts religious groups from most local zoning rules unless government can show that the restrictions are necessary to protect public safety.

County officials have twice refused Hale O Kaula's request for a special-use permit to build a chapel on the 5.8-acre site church officials purchased in 1990.

"The bottom line is that in this most recent ruling from the court, things went our way on the big stuff," Patrick Korten, an attorney with the Becket Fund, said in a statement. "Maui's actions in refusing to grant a special use permit to the church will be judged under a very strict standard."

The county maintains the permit is needed because the land is zoned for agriculture use and religious services are prohibited.

Victoria Takeyasu, deputy corporation counsel for the county, said she was pleased by the judge's ruling, which found that the federal law does not invalidate the county's zoning statutes.

"The test would be whether or not we applied the agricultural status in an unconstitutional manner in that we imposed a substantial burden on the plaintiffs' First Amendment right," she said.

Hale O Kaula has never applied to the county for a permit to just hold church services on the property, Takeyasu said. The church applied only for the special-use permit to build a new chapel on the property, she said.

The judge also declined to grant the county 11th Amendment immunity from liability, meaning that the county may be held liable if the church wins the lawsuit and is awarded damages.

"They made sort of extravagant demands in terms of damages," Takeyasu said. "In my opinion they've been unreasonable."

The case is scheduled to go to trial in July, but Takeyasu says the county is willing to settle.

"If they want to come back and work with the planning commission and work out the damages, I think we can work things out," she said. "We're willing to help them out on their special-use permit, that's always been our position, but not alongside damages."

A call to one of Hale O Kaula's attorneys, Charles Hurd of Honolulu, was not returned for this report.

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Hawaii church holds service despite legal battle over land use
County has twice denied Hale O Kaula a special-use permit for property zoned for agriculture.  09.09.02