pb meetings to continue.

Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carrol surprised by lawsuit - says cc jumped the gun.

MORE threats of personal lawsuits from whiney.

How can our planning board do their job with this hanging over their head:

Weinstein said the church was suing township officials only in their official capacity -- but said that could change.

Full article from the Raggord:

04/19/05 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom
Church hearings set to continue

Testimony to be given despite suit against Rockaway Twp.

By Rob Jennings, Daily Record

ROCKAWAY TWP. -- Christ Church of Montclair intends to participate in a 16th public hearing in two weeks, a spokesman said, despite filing a federal lawsuit last Friday that soon could bring the planning board process to a halt.

Board chairman Mort Dicker, a defendant in the lawsuit that also names the mayor, council and environmental commission, said Monday afternoon he was operating under the assumption that the Church would appear at the May 2 hearing.

"I have no idea what the intention is on the part of the church," Dicker said, adding that the planning board -- which was to meet Monday evening on unrelated matters -- had taken no steps to cancel the hearing.

Christ Church's spokesman, Marc Weinstein, said its representatives intend to proceed with testimony that, in recent hearings, centered on the traffic impact of the 5,000-member church's building plan at the 107-acre, former Agilent Technologies site on Green Pond Road.

"Just because they filed a lawsuit, everything doesn't have to stop," Weinstein said.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Newark, accuses the township of violating the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, as well as the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

It cited the council's March 1 vote to amend a local zoning ordinance, alleged encouragement by township officials of a misinformation campaign and a planning board inquiry into whether "mega-churches" qualified as churches under local zoning.

Councilman Eugene Sheninger, who introduced the ordinance, reasserted Monday that it was not aimed at Christ Church. Sheninger said it was aimed at tightening environmental rules and clarifying standards for conditional uses, such as churches, throughout the township.

"We spent a lot of time checking with professionals to make sure we weren't violating anybody's constitutional rights," Sheninger said. "We looked into this very carefully before we went ahead and introduced the ordinance."

The ordinance would not necessarily derail the church's proposed 2,512-seat sanctuary, K-5 school and recreational facilities, but it would eliminate a parking deck and force a significant restructuring of the 304,000-square-foot building plan.

Weinstein said the church was suing township officials only in their official capacity -- but said that could change.

The Becket Fund, a Washington-based religious liberties group aiding Christ Church's legal team, warned in a letter in early 2004 that officials might be held personally liable for damages.

Weinstein said that Christ Church "can file an addendum (but) at this point, it's just in their official capacity."

Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, R-Morris Twp., a land use attorney who once discussed representing Christ Church, said he was surprised that a lawsuit had been filed before any action was taken by the planning board on Christ Church's plan.

"Until it's actually denied, you have no cause of action," Carroll said, speculating that the church might have perceived that it had no chance of winning approval.

Weinstein declined to say what might have prompted the timing of the lawsuit, which came 11 days after the planning board's 15th hearing on the plan.

Carroll said the additional federal protections accorded to houses of worship might give Christ Church an edge in court, but emphasized the impossibility of predicting an outcome.

"Any time you put your life in the hands of someone wearing a black robe, it's never a slam dunk," Carroll said.

Rob Jennings can be reached at rjenning@gannett.com or (973) 428-6667.