San Diego Church Sues City Over Unfair Facility Rental Fees
by Jim Brown
January 4, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The city of San Diego, California, is being sued by a pastor who says his church is the victim of discrimination. The lawsuit filed by Pastor Christopher Chadwick accuses the city of unfairly charging churches more to rent space than it charges other nonprofit groups. Chadwick's church, Canyon Ridge Baptist Church, began renting space at the Kearny Mesa Recreation Center three years ago for its church services and other programs. But in July, the church's average rent jumped from $1,500 a month to more than $4,000.
Tim Chandler is an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a legal group that is handling the discrimination lawsuit. "Churches by definition meet all of the requirements to be a community group other than the fact that they are a religious organization," he asserts.
"We have no problem with [San Diego city officials] recovering their costs to make this facility available to the public," Chandler goes on to say. "The problem is when they make churches pay a significantly higher amount to recover those costs than everybody else."
Canyon Ridge Baptist Church's complaint against the city points out that advisory groups are permitted free use of the public space, and secular community groups pay as little as ten dollars per meeting. But according to the lawsuit, the three-tiered fee structure the city uses in renting out the Kearny Mesa Recreation Center facilities discriminates against religious organizations.
But according to Chandler, the law does not allow the city to treat churches differently from other comparable community groups in this way. "I think the problem is just a lack of education [on the city's part]; I think they don't understand that they cannot single out religious groups for unfavorable treatment," he says.
"We want churches to be able to have equal access to public facilities to be able to meet," the ADF attorney continues. "When they're charged these astronomical fees to use the facilities, it discourages churches from being able to use them and makes it harder for them to meet," he adds, "and we're just trying basically to keep the door open for the spread of the gospel."
Chandler hopes the Canyon Baptist's legal action will encourage the city of San Diego to stop singling out religious institutions for discriminatory treatment. The church's lawsuit seeks an injunction against the higher fees the church has paid and also asks for compensation for the plaintiff's legal costs and other damages.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
