Land use and zoning ordinances serve good purposes, especially when it comes to limits on the use of residential property. They help maintain the flow of traffic, keep neighborhoods quiet, and generally help maintain an orderly community. A couple in San Juan Capistrano, CA are fighting their city’s ordinance:
Chuck and Stephanie Fromm paid $200 in fines after receiving at least two citations from the city of San Juan Capistrano. They appealed the tickets to a hearing officer who sided with the city, leading to the August 31 lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court.
“How dare they tell us we can’t have whatever we want in our home,” Stephanie Fromm said. “We want to be able to use our home. We’ve paid a lot and invested a lot in our home and backyard … I should be able to be hospitable in my home.”…
Stephanie Fromm hosts a Bible study on Wednesdays that draws about 20 people, while Chuck Fromm’s Sunday-morning gathering draws as many as 50. But in the neighborhood of large homes on even larger lots—the Fromms live in a 4,700-square-foot home on a parcel that also has a corral, barn, pool and huge back lawn—Stephanie Fromm said parking was never a problem. Neither was noise, she said.
“There’s no singing or music,” she said. “It’s meditative.”
They hold a Bible study on Wednesdays and worship services on Sunday mornings with up to 50 people in attendance. Wow, that sure sounds like a church. I’m sorry, but it’s not music that makes it a church service and I would have a hard time calling that many Christians gathering in one place on a Sunday morning anything but a church service.
But according to city records, a code-enforcement officer gave the Fromms a verbal warning about the meetings in May. Citations were issued in May and June, according to city records. San Juan Capistrano City Attorney Omar Sandoval said the city had not yet been served with a copy of the legal action, so he could not comment.
The Fromms’ citations say they violated section 9-3.301 of the Capistrano Municipal Code, which prohibits “religious, fraternal or non-profit” organizations in residential neighborhoods without a conditional-use permit. The footnote on the section says it “Includes churches, temples, synagogues, monasteries, religious retreats, and other places of religious worship and other fraternal and community service organizations.”
The Fromms’ should have paid more attention to the city’s ordinances before starting a church in their home and applied for a permit. If you ignore the warning and even the fines, you’ve got what’s coming to you. I’m sure nobody would care too much about the Wednesday Bible study, but if they want to keep having church services, they should rent an appropriate facility or apply for the appropriate permit.
It’s also worth noting that the Christian Post article that lead me to the actual news story left out a lot of important details, such as the regularity with which they meet and the number of people who show up each week. The one detail they included was that it was an atheist who filed the complaint.
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What?? Claiming religious persecution in Orange County, home of Trinity Broadcasting, Bennie Hinn, and Rick Warren and probably the most Christian of any county in California? Somebody should explain to these people what persecution actually means.
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A couple points to consider–first, they're not a church. Their gifts to each other are not tax deductible. They aren't operating under a common name. It doesn't appear they have any formal leadership, other than this couple hosting the group. Just because they're Christians meeting on a Sunday morning doesn't mean they're a church. Heck, I'm a Christian and if I go out for brunch with a bunch of friends on a Sunday morning, does that mean we're holding church in a restaurant? Of course not.
Second, to me it seems like this is a pissing match that got WAY out of hand. What's up with the atheist stirring up trouble? Was the group actually causing a problem in the neighborhood, or was the atheist just wanting to make an example out of them? Did anyone else in the neighborhood complain? Have either party tried to talk to the other side about the issue and honestly try to resolve whatever the problem is, or did they just go straight to the law?
Christianity and atheism aside, I think it's stupid society even has issues like this. People need to learn how to deal with problems like this without wasting the court system's time.
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The city ordinance includes "places of religious worship." 50 people gathering every Sunday for a religous service would seem to violate the ordinance. What the should have done is applied for a conditional use permit or heeded the warning. They were in violation of the zoning rules.
At what point would the neighbor have been justified in complaining? Do you think he should have waited for 100 people or 200 people to be attending each week? The principle here is that zoning laws are there to ensure that the infrastructure can support the activities going on and to protect the rights of other home owners in the neighborhood.
I was at a neighborhood party a few weeks ago with a live band. The host went around and invited everybody and gave everybody in the neighborhood a flier with two phone numbers to call with concerns. One neighbor didn't like the noise and called the cops. Sure he was an ass for not calling the host first but he was justified to complain about a noise ordinance violation.
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