Posted on: Friday, November 19, 2004
Maui pays church to settle land use case
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor
WAILUKU, Maui — A small church in Kula that practices farming as an expression of faith will receive a "substantial" sum in a court settlement with the county in a land use case that garnered national interest.
He described it is a "substantial" sum.
The settlement was negotiated in June but the cash component came to light after the Maui Planning Commission on Wednesday approved a special use permit that will allow Hale O Kaula to move ahead with plans to build an 1,800-square-foot sanctuary as a second-story addition to an agricultural building.
The church agreed to permit conditions that limit its hours to 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily and restrict the number of people gathering in the sanctuary to 75 for regular services and 150 for four special events during the year.
"It's silly since there are not any restrictions on any other churches, but we can live with it," said church elder David Jenkins. "It was a compromise."
He said the decadelong fight to obtain the permit caused a "tremendous" financial burden on the church and a lot of stress "after so many years of struggle for just a simple constitutional freedom."
The church's long battle to obtain the permit drew the attention of the U.S. Justice Department and the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who saw it as a chance to strengthen the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act passed by Congress in 2000. The law prohibits zoning regulations that impose a substantial burden on religious expression unless there is a compelling public interest.
The Hale O Kaula dispute was noteworthy because it would be a test of the RLUIPA involving agriculturally zoned land.
Hale O Kaula bought the six-acre parcel at the end of a private road in 1990 after the church was unable to expand its Ha'iku property, which it had acquired in 1960. Jenkins and several other church members also bought land for homes in the same 14-lot Anuhea Place subdivision.
Charles Hurd, the Honolulu attorney representing Hale O Kaula and its 60 members, said the cash settlement will be paid by Maui County's insurance company and that the amount will be disclosed when the church receives the check.
