Maui church sues planning commission
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
A small Maui church yesterday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in hopes of overturning a decision by the Maui Planning Commission to deny its request to build a place of worship on agricultural property in rural Kula.
The suit was filed in Honolulu with help from a Washington-based, conservative-backed public interest law firm that assists churches with religious freedom cases.
"This is an absolutely open-and-shut case under federal law,'' said Patrick Korten, vice president of communications with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who was on Maui yesterday.
On June 27, the commission voted unanimously to deny Hale O Kaula's request for a permit to use its Anuhea Place property for religious worship in addition to the present agricultural, recreational and residential uses.
Residents of the private subdivision oppose the church's plans because they say it would bring unwanted traffic and noise, and ruin the area's rural character.
Becket Fund attorneys said the commission deliberately ignored a new federal law, called the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which prohibits discrimination against churches in zoning and land-use cases and bars local officials from imposing "substantial burden'' on the free exercise of religion.
The suit accuses the commission of violating multiple provisions of that law, as well as depriving the church of rights guaranteed under the U.S. and state constitutions.
At the time of the denial, the commission was advised by its attorney to consider only county and state laws in its decision-making. County zoning laws exclude churches from agricultural land.
Hale O Kaula, the occupant on a small parcel in Ha'iku, bought the Kula property in 1990 and has tried to win county approval for using the land for worship services since the mid-1990s.
The church bought the property with the intent of carrying out its "Joseph Ministry,'' which incorporates farming in its ministry.
