Maui panel blocks church expansion
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
WAILUKU, Maui — Ignoring a new federal law protecting religious freedom and the threat of a lawsuit, the Maui Planning Commission yesterday denied a church's request to build a place of worship on agricultural property in rural Kula.
Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser
Attorneys for Hale O Kaula immediately said they would seek to overturn the decision in court with the help of a Washington-based, conservative-backed public interest law firm specializing in religion cases.
Dave Jenkins, a director of Hale O Kaula, stands on the church's nearly six-acre lot in Kula. The church is seeking a special-use permit to add a second story to the building.
"This is the perfect setup for an injunction in a very short time,'' said Charles Hurd, a Honolulu lawyer representing the 60-member church in Ha'iku.
Commission members voted unanimously to support the recommendation of a hearing officer who conducted a court-style intervention proceeding in the dispute.
Neighbors of the church's six-acre parcel at the end of a private cul-de-sac objected to Hale O Kaula's special-use permit application to add a 1,888-square-foot second story to an existing building used for church socials. The expanded space would accommodate church services, an office, a library and storage.
The Anuhea Place neighbors said the church use would threaten their peace and quiet. Hearing officer Judith Neustadter-Fuqua agreed, saying the development would create unacceptable levels of traffic and noise, and place a burden on public agencies that provide water, police and fire protection.
Discussion about the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 was presented to the commission yesterday by Anthony Picarello Jr., legal counsel for the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who said the organization had decided to take up the church's case on a no-fee basis.
Picarello told the commission that laws that allow rodeos and pineapple canneries on agricultural land and not less-disruptive religious uses are discriminatory.
Picarello also charged that church members have endured harassment and discrimination from Anuhea Place property owners, some of whom have made public comments accusing the church of being a cult.
"This is the kind of case that a religious-freedom lawyer dreams about,'' he said. "If I can't make out a discrimination claim in federal court based on these facts, I'm in the wrong line of work.''
Glenn Kosaka, the residents' attorney, flatly denied any discrimination or bias against religion, noting that his clients are Protestants and Catholics. He said the residents simply want to preserve their rural lifestyle.
The commission's discussion regarding the federal law subsided after county attorney Brian Moto said commissioners need only consider county and state laws in their decision-making. And several commissioners took exception to the assertion that discrimination was at the heart of the case.
"I totally disagree with the idea that there is discrimination involved here. I don't believe there's any prejudice,'' said commission member Star Medeiros of Lahaina. "So be it. If they want to go to court, they can go to court.''
David Jenkins, a church director who has his own lot on Anuhea Place, said the planning commission turned down the church's first attempt to build on the property in 1995, so plans were scaled back.
Jenkins pointed out that the subdivision already is surrounded by much larger developments, including the Kamehameha Schools' Maui Campus and the Kulamalu commercial/residential project now under construction.
