Before I attended seminary and pastored for three decades I was a zoning administrator for a mid-sized city/county planning agency. As a twentysomething bureaucrat in his first post-college job, part of my responsibility was to inform property owners, real estate developers, and other interested citizens what could and could not be done with a particular piece of property.
“No, Donald Trump, you cannot build a towering condo on that property.”
Actually, Trump was interested in Manhattan not Athens, Georgia, so we never had such a conversation. It was more like, “No, ma’am. I’m sorry, but the residential zoning for your house prohibits your having a beauty shop in your basement.”
Zoning laws are an expression of the police power of the state and next year America will celebrate (or mourn) the centennial of such laws, New York city applying in 1916 such city-wide in response to a building that neighbors thought objectionable. Almost all municipalities have them and they serve a public purpose. Yeah, I am aware that the city of Houston lacks zoning laws but they make up for it in other ways.
But check the zoning case that some are calling a heavy-handed attempt to shut down a church
- New Orleans Times-Picayune article by Danielle Drellinger: Is this Louisiana church’s services too loud? Yes, authorities say.
- Baptist Press article by Brian Blackwell, Church tent noise level now a religious liberty test
- Ed Stetzer article on Christianity Today site: Vintage church fights to stay open amidst neighbor complaints and critical summons
The Drellinger article summarizes the case succinctly:
A Metairie church is suing Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand after deputies cited its pastor for an excessively noisy worship service. In a four-month dispute with its residential neighbors, Vintage Church says the Sheriff’s Office enforcement violates its members’ religious rights under Louisiana law and the U.S. Constitution.
Vintage and executive pastor Matthew Brichetto sued the sheriff and Jefferson Parish government in the 24th Judicial District Court in Gretna, seeking a temporary injunction to keep their services going in a tent in the church’s parking lot. The court filings detail a history of trouble with police over Vintage’s tent services, spurred by the complaints of what the church’s attorneys say is a single disgruntled neighbor.
I’ve been in a few heated zoning hearings and there is little outrage like that of neighbors who oppose a particular business or proposed business. Some of this is good old American NIMBY on display. In this case the church is worshiping in a tent and at least one neighbor calls 911 because it is too loud.
I’ve been in a few church services where the sound was so loud I thought about calling 911. I don’t mind loud but for crying out loud, pastor and music leader, there’s nothing spiritual about jacking up the sermon or music volume. I sensibly carry ear plugs and use them occasionally. I think it prudent to keep the state out of my complaning.
At least once, I’ve seen bogus church complaints about zoning and attendant regulations but this case looks legitimate, with a couple of wrinkles not found in the links above. But you read the secular news article and think about how it would look to you for law enforcement people to show up every Sunday with decibel meters and check the sound levels. One Sunday the pastor was fingerprinted, perhaps a first in American church life.
More on the case:
The church hired audio consultants to ensure the sound stayed within legal limits, and though a neighbor kept complaining, officers found no further violations for a few weeks. But on Nov. 12, a Sheriff’s Office captain said Brichetto could not use a microphone when he spoke and threatened to arrest him. Three days later, Normand himself came to the Sunday service with six officers and “found the sound levels were above 60 decibels without any amplification at all.”
That finding effectively keeps Vintage from having any church services at all, which violates the state’s Preservation of Religious Freedom Act, the lawsuit says. Brichetto “cannot minister to the congregation without music and preaching,” the suit says. It criticizes Jefferson officials for constantly changing their demands and imposing “burden after burden.” State law prohibits government from burdening a person’s religious worship even if the ordinance being enforced was designed to be neutral.
Further, the church says the parish law violates federal rights to free expression and is unconstitutionally vague. It says the ordinance is confusing and has arbitrary definitions of events requiring a permit, which encourages spot enforcement, and that the 60-decibel limit is ridiculously low.
I suggest that the church would fare better by looking at what their counsel is saying. If the quotes here are accurate they may not be helpful:
While the sheriff said he has received letters and complaints about the noise from a number of residents, [plaintiff’s attorney] Bowes insisted the dispute has been driven by “one lady who doesn’t want to hear about God.” The church, he said, can “prove” the woman does not merely wish to sleep in and that she’s “up and at ’em by 9.” Bowes, without naming the woman, said he wouldn’t want to be “facing Jesus being her right now.”
“There’s a demon who is giving this lady an uncomfortableness, meaning the darkness doesn’t like the light,” Bowes said. “The bottom line is the devil, a demonic obsession if you will, has caused this lady to want to strike out at the church.”
Which brings me to one of Plodder’s sage observations of American church life: A church’s neighbors will often dislike the church. Sometimes the neighbors have good reasons. Sometimes not.
The neighbors of couple of my congregations really didn’t like the church, although I made a concerted effort to be friendly, neighborly and reasonable. Then there was the one neighbor that kept a bunch of mangy dogs and had rats crawling all over his back lot which was adjacent to our church parking lot. What a squalid, noisy, unhealthy mess. But we ;ived with it until we eventually made him happy by buying him out and making our property dog and rat free.
I think zoning laws are generally good for the public. But sometimes they can be unreasonable. When they conflict with freedom of religion, I trust sensible judges to resolve the conflict and balance the competing constitutional issues. But this case appears intensely personal to the church and her neighbors and I hope they are able to work their conflict out without more rancor.
Until it’s resolved, I recommend the church not send the choir over to their neighbor to sing “Silent Night.”
William, thanks for the post on Vintage. One of my friends, Scott Smith pastored Vintage for several years and always spoke well of the church. When I saw the various articles on this matter I looked up high schools in Metairie. I found several schools and two public high schools, East Jefferson and Grace King High Schools. I am certain the football game noise and the band performing at half time climb above 60 decimals.
I am not sure this neighbor is anti-Gospel but she does seem anti-church, or at least anti-Vintage. It appears to be personal.
You are right that the issues between neighbors and churches can be the fault of either.
Some of my thoughts.
As you mentioned, a church should do their best to get along with the neighbors. Frankly, I would not want to live next to a church.
Never build a parsonage next to the church!
Especially if the church intends to have extra loud worship services, in construction they should try to do anything reasonable to sound-proof or reduce the sound in their sanctuary.
If possible buy a little extra property to have a buffer zone between the buildings and the neighborhood houses. It’s better for a church to have too much property, than too little.
Sometimes a good fence can help.
In making zoning laws, representatives of both small and large churches should be consulted.
Churches are different from businesses.
I’ve seen zoning or county laws that required a small church to spend thousands extra, that they could not afford, to dig a large water well; when a standard household water well would have been completely adequate.
Also, apparently there are zoning laws that are made by those out to get churches and make it hard on them. I’ve heard they have been so against churches in Austin, TX.
David R. Brumbelow
We had a neighbor try to start a church in his backyard. We had some handshake deals going on with our property and his brother-in-law’s property and technically his land bordered our land. He wasn’t a particularly kind fellow in that he tried to use the handshake deal to gain some extra land for an entrance to his back yard. The church never took off, thank goodness. Not for the noise or anything, but just because I doubted the nature of his teaching based on his character.
That said, our land is under the approach for the local municipal airport. A few years ago they extended the runway in order to accommodate larger planes. We had propeller cargo planes before, which was loud, but now we have the occasional jet. Whatever. It’s not like we are going to sue the airport. Putting up with neighborly annoyances while trying to be less annoying yourself is what living in a fallen world is all about.
I have seen both sides of this. As an elder in a congregation seeking to build a church and having to face small, satellite cities that did not want any churches in the area, and as counsel for a small satellite city.
There are zoning laws, which regulate the uses to which land can be put and development standards. I think that Houston may use deed restrictions, but I don’t know that much about it.
There is also the tort of nuisance. Even though the property is zoned for a particular use, and is built out appropriately, the property can be operated in such a way that it creates a problem for neighbors.
I hope the dispute with the church works out. The pastor should be quiet in the meantime.
Thanks for the comments.
The zoning dispute aside, I’d bet that David, Jim, and Louis could all come up with a list of things a pastor/church should/should not do to be a good neighbor.
My top “don’t” would be this: Don’t saunter over to your neighbor and ask them to give the church their property. I can give several examples where this was done.
I think a building’s noise level on the outside has to do with the construction of the building. A metal building can be notorious for noise if it’s not insulated right. A proper insulation makes all the difference. The building code and noise levels doesn’t go hand in hand, and can cause serious problems in the long run.
There are many church buildings that no matter how loud the music is on the inside it can barely be heard on the outside. Windows have a lot to do with the noise too. I thought I would just toss this out there.
Neighbors can have legitimate complaints when the church acts as if it’s a transmitter and the neighbors home as a receiver. A good architect makes all the difference in the world when called to his attention before construction begins. A neighbor should never hear what goes on inside the church from his or her living room.
The church in this case is in a tent, temporarily. Even with no amplification they have been cited for violating the zoning laws. It’s a mess.
Actually William, what you and most authors of these articles don’t know is they in fact do use microphones. They are plugged in way before the 9am service (drums, guitars, etc.) and as soon as they see the sheriff’s office arriving, they unplug. Their detail person is a state corrections officer who monitors the police band radio and knows when they are arriving. Of course they can’t be cited (hence the “unfounded” complaints in their lawsuit). As soon as the police leave, they plug right back in. The tent has absolutely no sound barriers and contrary to what most of the media/religious sites report, the church staff has not once tried to communicate with the neighborhood. In truth, the sound issue has gotten better over the last few weeks but they continue to start warming up prior to 8:00 am with sustained decibel readings well over limit. The tent was erected in late July of this year and they broke ground for their new sanctuary two weeks ago. I agree this is a mess as we have been dealing with this issue for over 5 months now. I hope this helps people understand we are truly not against the church at all. We just can’t live this way for another 4 – 6 months.
Thanks for the first hand info and comment. Hope things can be worked out amicably but what’s up with the lawyer ‘demon’ talk?
I wonder if the church had thier services at 1 or 2pm while they are in their tent – might they avoid as many complaints for it being in the middle of the day versus early in the morning?
Would that satisfy you Tammy for a few more months?
They have rejected that recommendation as they have an 11am, 5pm, and 7pm service also.
Oh, ok. I did not know they had that many services.
I do hope something amicable can be worked out. I see both sides of this.
If it were me, I would be trying to find a rental property to accommodate church services until the new building can be completed. The fact is that our message is offensive enough to many people without us adding our own jerkiness to it.