07-04-2003, 02:01 PM
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Contributor
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Los Angeles area
Posts: 40,549
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Bush administration strong arms Maui zoning board over RLUIPA
Justice Dept. Takes Up a Little Church's Zoning Fight
Quote:
The church, which is Christian, nondenominational and called Hale O Kaula, would like to build a proper sanctuary, but the Maui Planning Commission, citing traffic and safety concerns, has turned it down. In response, the church has sued.
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Maui officials, sounding slightly stunned at what they see as a betrayal of the Bush administration's usual deference to local governments, say they are in no mood to capitulate, and support for them here is not scarce. "It's hard to avoid the conclusion that Maui County is being strong-armed from the nation's capital," The Maui News said in a recent editorial. "The case is a local-rights fight worth fighting."
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The decades-old church has about 60 members, including some 20 children. Its plans for a new sanctuary, on the site of the concrete-block building where the worshipers now gather, are resisted by Maui on the grounds that they would increase traffic and noise and would burden the county's ability to deliver water as well as fire-prevention and police services.
"The upcountry rural lifestyle is jealously guarded and very precious to the people who live there," said Ms. D'Enbeau, the deputy corporation counsel.
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Charles H. Hurd, a Honolulu lawyer who is teaming with the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty in representing the church, said the county's posture had surprised him.
"They responded like samurai warriors," he said. "There is a point of view in Maui that `we're going to do it our way.' "
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