Found that one while you were posting.
Okay, I read the Complaint. See if I can put together a tl;dr version for ya.Basically, they're trying to get the zoning retried in Federal Court, on the basis that giving them anything less than what they insist they need for their "religious practice" is discrimination under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). In short, "you have to let us do anything we want, no matter what the impact on the neighborhood might be, because you're a religious bigot if you don't."They go for several paragraphs on why they need so much space, but spare only one vague paragraph of explanation as to why they bought a building that was too small in the first place, which seems to come to "we didn't think it would be a problem back in 2005."
Both suits contend that the city infringed on the church’s religious rights in the City Council's vote Dec. 15 that approved the rezoning of the building at Roswell Road and Glenridge Drive but denied the church’s request to add a fourth floor by enclosing a basement parking garage, saying there wasn’t enough parking.“Their own staff said if you put a cap on occupancy, which we proposed, the parking is sufficient,” said William Woodson Galloway, the church’s attorney. “There are many, many ways they could have addressed the quote, ‘public safety issue,’ and they didn’t.”Mayor Eva Galambos and six council members -- including two new members who did not participate in the December vote -- are named in the suits.Galambos cast the tie-breaking vote on the issue.“We dealt with parking and traffic, period,” Galambos said Thursday, declining to comment further because of the pending litigation.Galloway appealed under the federal Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act as well as the state constitution.In four appearances before the City Council, Galloway warned that the additional space was required because of the nature of Scientology worship, which focuses more on individual classroom study than traditional congregational-style churches.
Who is Andrea Cantrell Jones?
In the SUPERIOR COURT Fulton County, Georgia Case No. 2010CV180058 CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY OF GEORGIA INC., A GEORGIA CORPORATION VS. CITY OF SANDY SPRINGS, GEORGIA A MUNICIPAL CORPORATION OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA; THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANDY SPRINGS, GEORGIA, EVA GALAMBOS, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SANDY SPRING, GEORGIA AND JOHN PAULSON, DIANNE FRIES, WILLIA COPPEDGE Filed on 01/14/2010 Case Type: APPEAL Judge: Wendy L. Shoob Current Status: FiledDefendant Defendant AttorneysCity Of Sandy Springs The City Council Of The City Of Sandy Springs Galambos, Eva Paulson, John Fries, DianneS Collins, William Coppedge Jenkins, Ashley Dejulio, Tiberio Mcenerny, Karen Meinzen Plaintiff Plaintiff AttorneysChurch Of Scientology Of Georgia Inc Dillard, G. Douglas3500 LENOX ROAD NESUITE 760Atlanta, GA 30326Events and Orders of the Court01/14/2010 CASE INITIATION FORM01/14/2010 PLAINTIFF'S ORIGINAL PETITION
how much money are they going to waste on this?
Can the public attend hearings for these cases?
Sad to see the Sandy Springs Reporter news paper not mentioning the lastest news about their city being sued.
While I agree with you that there would be little practical benefit in critics immediately getting involved in this case or trying to influence it, and that attempts to do this would probably backfire, there is a strong critical interest in the outcome of this case. It is fairly common for critics of Scientology to accuse the cult of committing crimes. While this is true, the bulk of the cult's lawbreaking is not of criminal laws, but of more minor, "flying under the radar" administrative offenses, such as ignoring zoning regulations, violating fire codes, and the like. Scientology may be attempting to win a judgment that the bulk of their lawbreaking is protected under federal law, so they can continue doing what they've always done with impunity.
I don't think the matter is going to hinge on actual or implied discrimination, but to the extent it becomes pertinent, Scientology will proffer letters to the editor from critics in the GA area which discuss xenu, disconnection, etc. their point being that regardless of what the zoning board says, they hate Scientology. To the extent that the letters can avoid that and focus on Scientology's conduct with regard to issues specifically in play here, it'll help.
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Topic: RLUIPA Law Suit Filed by Church of Scientology of Georgia (Read 101436 times)