The road to a permanent home for Vineyard Christian Fellowshiphas been long and hard, but it’s not quite over.
A federal court ruled April 1 that the Vineyard may use itsbuilding, at 1800 Ridge Ave., for worship, but church officialsplan to stay at Evanston Township High School until the judgeissues an injunction.
Vineyard originally filed suit against the city in 1998, after anumber of attempts at compromise. The church briefly dropped thecase in 1999 when they thought the Evanston City Council mightgrant them an exemption, but the two sides found themselves back incourt in 2000.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer ruled that the cityviolated the church’s rights to free speech and equal protection.Because the court rule that the city did not violate Vineyard’sreligious rights, a slight zoning change — to prohibit bothreligious and cultural facilities — might avert the decision.
In issuing the ruling, the judge ordered Vineyard and cityrepresentatives to meet with U.S. Magistrate Morton Denlow todiscuss damages. Lawyers for the city have not said whether theyplan to appeal but plan to fight Vineyard’s damages claim, whichexceeds $500,000.
The church won’t back down, either.
“This whole thing came at a significant cost, not just in termsof legal fees, but the emotional and spiritual energy required toendure a conflict this long,” said Bill Hanawalt, Vineyard’sexecutive pastor.
Renting the ETHS auditorium and related facilities costs about$100,000 each year.
Vineyard bought the building on 1800 Ridge Ave. in 1996. Duringthe purchasing process, church officials learned city zoning lawsdid not allow for worship in the office district where the buildingis located. Since Vineyard needed space for offices anyway, thechurch decided to go ahead with the purchase.
“Until we moved here, we didn’t even have a sign on the street,”Hanawalt said. “People would ask where the Vineyard is. Well, theVineyard is a meeting in an auditorium for two hours somewhere.
“And the rest of the week it doesn’t exist.”
City Manager Roger Crum said that despite the suit, heunderstands the church’s difficulties.
“Obviously we would have preferred that they would have found asuitable location that met their needs,” Crum said. “That isn’teasy to do in the North Shore area.”
But Crum also points out that Evanston can’t arbitrarily changeits zoning laws.
“We have to follow our law too,” he said.
Nearly every major city in the country uses zoning laws toencourage development and to plan for the future, Crum said.Evanston laws do not restrict religious freedom: 90 percent of thecity is open for houses of worship.
Hanawalt argues that if economic development is what the citywants, Vineyard can provide it. The church brings in visitors fromall over the North Shore and Chicago, he said.
But Crum said that in a city where 45 percent of the land isalready untaxable, Vineyard’s tax status is the key.
“We enjoy everybody’s boost to the economy but taxpayers wouldlike to see people paying the property tax,” he said.
Vineyard has been looking to help itself and the city by lookingto move out of the contentious property.
The building no longer fits Vineyard’s needs, as the churchwould have to hold two Sunday services and one on Saturday night toaccommodate all of the people who fit in the ETHS auditorium.Hanawalt said Vineyard would be glad to move to another building –if they could find one.
A “for sale” sign is still posted in their window.
