New Life Worship: Zoning Board suppressed religious freedom

SMITHFIELD - The 850-member New Life Worship Center, which in February sued the Zoning Board for refusing to allow a public fitness center on its property, has filed a supporting brief in Superior Court asserting that the denial has curtailed its religious freedom.

The church, which maintains a 40-acre campus at 915 Douglas Pike, contends that the Zoning Board harbors an outdated and narrow view of religious activity, and that its existing fitness center - which it wants to open to the public for a monthly fee - is part of its mission to strengthen family life.

"It may at first seem unconventional to some," the brief states, "but the more conventional approaches such as potluck suppers are clearly not the family bonding events they used to be."

The church asserts that the board's decision abrogates the federal Religious Land Use Act and a similar state law that prohibit zoning laws from "substantially interfering with the free exercise of religious institutions and assemblies."

The brief, filed by church lawyer Christopher J. O'Connor, maintains that "New Life is not a private church with exclusive membership. It is a church that actively reaches out to the community with open arms to assist in matters with which it is uniquely qualified to help - namely the building and strengthening of the family, marriages, children and the community in general. Fitness centers have proven to be the perfect venues for family activity so long as it is done in the right environment."

The brief also contends that the Zoning Board erred in other matters throughout a months-long and often tense series of hearings on the church's request to put a fitness center and dance studio in one of two multi-story buildings on its sprawling property.

New Life, which in its brief describes itself as a "Christian family church," contends that the board offered no specific evidence to support the unanimous denial, and did not contradict evidence by church witnesses that the proposed enterprises are suitable at the site in terms of traffic and safety issues.

The brief contends that the board "was often times disbelieving and at times hostile ... it was abundantly clear that the board did not like the application in any form and would not vote in favor of it regardless of the evidence or concessions offered by New Life."

The board, which will now file a brief stating its own case, rejected the church's request for a special use permit last January, largely over concerns that because the enterprises were to be located in the same building as the church's parochial high school, student safety could be compromised.

One face-off during the final hearing produced an unusual exchange when the school's principal, Michael Dube, said that during the academic day men were barred from the fitness center - which during the dispute has been open only to church members - because "statistically, men commit the vast majority of crimes."

That produced a strong reaction from Board Chairman George McKinnon, who said to Pastor Stephen Boyce, "I'm going to ask you a Christian question: How can you as a pastor stand there and suggest that (men) can't go into a gym because we're criminal - because you say so."

The church's court filing disputes the board's concern over safety, saying that its 125-student junior-senior high school, Masters Regional Academy, would not be at risk because of the fitness center in its basement. The building is equipped with magnetic door locks, interior video cameras in all classrooms and hallways, and is opened only to authorized people who must be buzzed in, the brief says.

The lengthy controversy began after the church opened what it termed a state-of-the-art fitness center in the school building and advertised it as available to the public at a monthly fee of $19.99. Pastor Boyce has estimated the cost of creating the 9,500-square-foot center at $400,000.

The building itself, called the church's Family Life Center, contains 54,000 square feet on three floors.

The court brief describes the fitness center as a "ministry arm" of the church, and says it differs from commercial gyms.

It quotes the pastor as explaining during one of the hearings, "We have men on one side, we have ladies on the other. In this side over here where the ladies are, no men allowed.

"We want the women to be able to come, my wife, your wife... and not feel like they're in a place where they're going to be ogled at or picked up, and all those kinds of thing, which is reality."

According to the brief, the board's denial violates the federal law - formally titled the Federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act - because the fitness center and dance studio "are central to New Life's mission and for a religious use, which is to strengthen the family by offering an opportunity for anyone to exercise in a wholesome environment."

The brief says that "courts consider religious use as not defined solely in terms of religious worship, but has been extended to include a center for the performing arts, a home for developmentally disabled persons, a convent, an orphanage, a home for pregnant teenagers, a center for counseling drug users, parking areas related to these activities, and the operations of a radio station by a church."

The church argues that while the law permits curbs on church zoning where "compelling government interest" can be shown, such as safety or security dangers, government must use the "least restrictive means" of resolving those problems.

The church argues that the board violated that standard, because instead of seeking to put reasonable restrictions on how the center could operate, "the Zoning Board flat out rejected the proposal."

In addition to the safety issues, the board during its hearings had expressed concerns that under the church's definition of "ministry," it could put practically any enterprise, perhaps even an auto repair shop, on its property.

Board Chairman McKinnon told the pastor at one point, "We suggest to you that by taking the fitness center outside the community of your church and school you throw it into a new realm - commercial enterprise."