Apple Valley halts High Desert Church expansion: Dilemma similar to Victorville zoning issue
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--Plans for the Victor Valley's largest church to launch an "East Valley campus" have been in the works for roughly two years, with High Desert Church looking to bring its message closer to home for residents of Apple Valley, east Hesperia and Lucerne Valley.
Now -- with a year-long contract to hold services at Apple Valley's UltraStar Cinemas signed, a couple hundred thousand dollars committed to the project and the opening a month away -- the town has pulled the welcome mat out from under HDC.
"It is not allowed under our Places of Assembly Ordinance," Apple Valley s p o ke s wo m a n K at h i e Martin said, citing a zoning law approved in 2006 that prohibits churches in commercial areas.
If this story sounds familiar, it's because Ontario-based Loveland Church is currently facing the same battle with the city of Victorville over the services it's held at the Mall of Victor Valley's Cinemark for the last two years.
After seeing Daily Press stories on the Loveland situation, Josh Bishop, communications manager with HDC, said church officials took the initiative and went to Town Hall to make sure there wouldn't be any conflicts with their proposal.
"We were very surprised to hear that, essentially because of zoning laws, they said we can't meet at the UltraStar," Bishop said. With hundreds of churches holding services in movie theaters across the country, he said, "Everyone we have talked to has said this has never happened before."
B i s h o p s a i d H D C has purchased roughly $100,000 in sound and projection equipment to use at the site, with delivery expected today. They also spent thousands more on advertising, with a billboard set to go up along Interstate 15 on Wednesday and radio spots he's now scrambling to cancel.
"Groups rent theaters all the time for meetings, broadcasts..." said Damon Rubio, vice president of operations for UltraStar Cinemas, who is hearing second-hand the news about losing tens of thousands of dollars in revenue from HDC.
T h e 2 0 0 0 fe d e ra l Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act prohibits governments from establishing zoning "in a manner that treats a religious assembly or institution on less than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly or institution," adding that the law should be interpreted "in favor of a broad protection of religious exercise."
"Our attorney has reviewed the situation," Martin said, "and said we are correct in our interpretation of our code, and not in violation of federal law in denying this use."
There is no appeal process for the church to go through and no special permit or license that will allow them to legally hold services at the theater, according to town code.
Bishop said his 8,000-member congregation is still reeling from the news. With the church typically against taking legal or political action, he really doesn't know where they'll go from here.
The idea for an East Va l l ey c a m p u s wa s sparked a couple of years ago, Bishop said, when the church did some research and found that fewer families were willing to brave the area's ever-increasing traffic to travel from the east edge of Apple Valley or Hesperia to HDC's Hook Boulevard site in Victorville.
They did some testr u n s at s c h o o l s i n Hesperia, with up to 500 people attending Easter or Christmas Eve services. But when they looked for a permanent location for the new campus -- and considered the 5,500 current HDC members who live in Apple Valley -- Bishop said they found UltraStar near the corner of Bear Valley and Central roads to be the best fit.
The plan, promoted on fliers passed out at recent HDC services, was to have a live worship band at the site and then to broadcast the sermon delivered at the Victorville church to UltraStar's big screen.
"I am licensed to show broadcasts. That's what my business is ..." Rubio said. "The city should have the right to monitor what businesses are where, but they don't have a right to censure the kind of people I do business with."
Rubio said as far as he's concerned, he still has a right to rent a few hundred seats to members of HDC every Sunday.
Brooke Edwards may be reached
at (760) 955-5358 or at bed
wards@VVDailyPress.com.
Credit: Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.
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