Church to target Phelan in lawsuit against Lynn

LYNN – A Latino church will continue its federal lawsuit claiming that the city violated its civil rights by not allowing it to use its Anchor Road building and said it plans on expanding the suit to investigate whether neighbor and City Council President Timothy J. Phelan was improperly involved in the matter.”We’re going to finish the church, finish the construction, have occupancy for 72 people, and are going to amend the complaint and add Mr. Phelan ? (based on) a reasonable belief that he’s conspired with the city to deprive the church and its parishioners to use the building,” Attorney John Mauck, representing Iglesia Cristiana Renacer, said after a preliminary hearing in Federal Court Wednesday.Phelan denied any improper involvement in what was a zoning, not a civil rights, case.”It’s my understanding that the lawsuit is alleging the prevention of the practice of religion and (is) not (about) race, and we’re talking about a zoning ordinance that went into effect in 1964 when I was still in diapers,” Phelan said.The federal lawsuit was filed Nov. 3 and stems from the Zoning Board of Appeals twice rejecting the Iglesia Cristiana Renacer church’s petition for a variance to parking requirements at their Anchor Street building.Meeting minutes cite more than a dozen reasons for denying the variance, stipulating one parking space for three occupants. Reasons include traffic and public-safety concerns but also “strong neighborhood opposition,” including opposition to “programs the church will run re: alcohol, teen meetings ? (that) do not belong in neighborhood.”But the church claims the city violated its freedom of religion under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) – legislation enacted in 2000 to protect churches, which Congressional record notes were frequently of minority groups, from discrimination through arbitrary zoning decisions.City Attorney James Lamanna and Mauck agreed at the hearing that the church could hold services as long as it brought the new building up to building code and did not exceed occupancy limits as approved by the building inspector.But they disagreed whether the city should pay approximately $120,000 in damages accrued.Lamanna said that the city should not pay damages relating to time periods when the church had not filed appropriate plans to bring the church building up to building codes or when orders of a building permit were allegedly violated. He also rejected any civil-rights violations, noting that the city has allowed the church to operate in other local locations for three years.But Mauck said that civil rights were violated and the city should be held responsible.”These people who have run the city have done wrong by the church and they should come forth and apologize otherwise they put the city at great risk of damages,” Mauck said.The attorneys also disagreed about the intentions of naming Phelan.Mauck said attorneys wanted to investigate possible political interference in a decision by nearby schools not to allow off-site parking. Phelan said he had “no connection” with the school’s decision.Lamanna said he believed naming Phelan was a tactic to “embarrass” the city and force it to settle.As for whether decisions involving the church had anything to do with its congregants’ race or ethnicity, Mauck said that sometimes concern with property values can change peoples’ thinking.”I’m not initiating the racist word or saying yes (racism was involved) but am saying that when people have fears, it may affect their rationality in terms of how this church may affect the neighborhood.”Meanwhile, both attorneys said they would begin the process of preparing for the trial scheduled to be heard by a judge in February.Cyrus Moulton can be reached at [email protected].