I guess that it is pretty obvious that the Planning Board will toss this thing over to the Board of Adjustment tonight for the obvious reason that a Megachurch was not forseen as a "Church" by the town fathers.
I guess another easy prediction is that a lawsuit will be initiated by CC immediately thereafter using RLUIPA.
And we thought that Ireland said that he would not come if we told them that we did not want them here. He told an assembly of clergymen here in town that about six months ago.
Well - - - we shall see. Just look at the nature of the "man behind the curtain" that we have observed thus far.
I guess my prognistication skills need some honing or my crystal ball needs an overhaul. It did not happen tonight! Sh-i-t! Looks like their will be a change in our conditional use zoning statues, however. That should trigger some interesting interactions of parties!
I assume any changes can't be applied retroactively to the CC application. Kind of like locking the door after the horse has left the barn. Is that true?
Suprisingly, we can lock the door during an application review which is what is likely to occur. It would be extremely that the new zoning law will permit such a use.
BTW - the capacity of the building was determined by the town planner to be about 10,000 persons at any given moment. Now, if you run a few services on Sunday, you will now see that my 25,000 person number was not out in left field.
I would not be surprised if they are not establishing a meeting schedule on that topic right now as we speak. It does occur to me that our hired town planner, in pointing out the weakness in our own zoning laws is, in actuality, pointing out his own weakness as a professional planner on the RT payroll. It seems to me that he has just given us a real good reason to fire him. Anyone can interpret things in hindsight. I would thing that a "planner" (bystander - - - you will need to study Webster to understand that word) has the responsibility to anticipate these sorts of Impacts on a community, especially as a paid professional.
Shame on him and shame on us for not realizing this until now. He is obviously incompetitent in his chosen field as far as I am concerned.
(( ... you will need to study Webster to understand that word ))
Thanks for the suggestion ...
Actually, I prefer to refer to my 'Fowler's Modern English Usage' reference book. Sometimes it helps me decipher some of the grammar and writings I read on this message board. Other times .... not.
I also often refer to the online Word and Quotation Checker for help, too ... it's an invaluable linking resource that you might also find useful!