Dispute continues between Prince George's County Council and Reaching Hearts

Members of Reaching Hearts International Church called action taken by the Prince George's County Council last week inadequate and detrimental to their plans to build a 750-seat church on Brooklyn Bridge Road in West Laurel.

On Sept. 13, council members passed legislation that will allow 3.6 acres of the Seventh-day Adventist church's property to be hooked up to the county's sewer and water system. A separate 3-acre tract of the church's land already has the proper Category 3 designation for a sewer and water hook up. However, the vast majority of the church's property, nearly 15 acres, is located in a Category 5, which means public sewer and water service is not planned any time soon.

Officials at the church and council members have been engaged in a dispute over the property's sewer and water designation since church officials purchased the property nearly 10 years ago. The council was under a 2008 court order to process, without delay, the church's latest application to have all of its property's designation changed to Category 3.

But holding fast to their concerns about the property in question being too close to the Rocky Gorge Dam, a major source of the county's drinking water; and residents' complaints about the size of the church and traffic concerns, council members only approved water and sewer service for the additional small tract of land at the front of the property site.

"We (council members) have an outside attorney who told us (because of the court order), we had to grant this (sewer and water category change) just on the front parcel," said Council member Mary Lehman, who represents Laurel and lives in West Laurel. "We feel we've done what our counsel and the judge told us to do. When we were in court, they (church officials) said they could build on the front parcel, and we've approved the front acreage."

But the church's pastor, Michael Oxentenko, said that statement was made in 2003 when they were "in a survival mode and trying to come up with the bare survival minimum under the county's constrictions. They're trying to hold us to our actions to survive and not what we need for our plans. They want to shrink us down to a postage stamp of what we need."

Oxentenko pointed out that over the years, they have scaled their plans down from two buildings for the church and school, encompassing 72,000 square feet, to a single multilevel building with a 28,000-square-foot circumference. In addition, because of concerns about the proposed church's proximity to Rocky Gorge, Oxentenko said their plans call for numerous environmental features to filter runoff from their property and that the back 8 acres of the site will not be developed.

"The back area is beautiful with a cathedral of trees that we want to preserve, and maybe put in paths for walking and praying," Oxentenko said. "We'd been working with county engineers on segmenting the wooded acreage near Rocky Gorge. We let them know we are committed to leave it wooded, and thought we were in a good dialogue with them and there was cooperation from the county executive's side. But the council members never entered into that dialogue, which is too bad."

The fight in federal court

In addition to numerous council hearings, the church's fight to build a church in West Laurel has been hashed out in a federal court.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ruled in 2008 that the county was guilty of religious discrimination against the church and declared unconstitutional a law the county passed in 2004 that allowed construction on only 10 percent of properties located within 2,500 feet of a drinking-water reservoir, such as the church's land.

In addition, a jury awarded church officials $3.7 million in damages and $870,000 in attorney fees in 2008. The attorney fees are still being appealed, but a federal appeals court upheld the damage award, which the church has collected plus interest.

Three years ago, the court ruling also called for county officials to process the church's resubmitted water and sewer application without delay. The county currently faces a contempt of court charge, stemming from a July denial of that application.

"The church filed its water and sewer application in June 2010, but it was decided, denied, by the council July 2011 — so, it was not processed without delay," said one of the church's attorneys, Ward Coe.

The attorney said a new lawsuit, again charging religious discrimination, was filed against the county in July.

"They've done the same thing to us all over again. Their action last week doesn't take care of the issue and still prevents the church from being built."

Lehman denied those charges and disagreed with Coe's take on the court order.

"The judge said we didn't process the application to his satisfaction, without prejudice, but he didn't tell us what to do," Lehman said. "We don't think we are trying to limit what they can do with their land."

It was after the council's July decision that federal Judge Roger Titus, who presided over the jury trial against the county, threatened county officials with a contempt-of-court ruling and ordered them to appear in court this month to defend their decision.

"They will have to have their lawyer come in to show why they shouldn't be charged with contempt," Coe said.

Coe added, "The court date was supposed to be Sept. 1, but it has been pushed back to Oct. 20 because the judge was hurt in an accident and is recovering."

It was the possible contempt of court order hanging over the county, which Lehman said they have asked the court to dismiss, that prompted the council to reconsider the church's application.

To do that, council members needed to receive a letter from County Executive Rushern Baker III, asking them to reconsider their July decision. Lehman said they received the request, which paved the way for them to vote on the additional 3.6-acre water and sewer approval for the church's property.

"In the formal letter he sent, Rushern did not ask us to do anything specific but only to reconsider it (the application)," Lehman said.

As the issue plays out in the council and the court, Oxentenko said they are continuing to rent space in Spencerville for about $90,000 a year, as he and members hope and fight to get the sewer and water approvals they need from the county to build the type of church they want on their property.

"We don't have any ill feelings toward our friends in the community," Oxentenko said. "We're just holding to what was approved by the courts, and we just want to build, not a mega-church, but our church — which will be a beautiful church."

This story has been changed to correct the amount of rent Reaching Hearts pays for space in Spencerville.