SAN ANTONIO  Arguments of whether a city's right to regulate zoning outweighs a church's right to thrive were heard in a five-year-old case pitting a 17,000-member church against the city it calls home.
Castle Hills First Baptist Church and the city of Castle Hills are at odds over zoning laws that prevent the church from building a parking lot and from finishing space for fellowship and education purposes.
Church officials said the city's rejection of its proposed parking lot amounts to religious discrimination, according to the Express-News. City officials contend they want to maintain their town's way of life and have some control over construction projects that siphon tax dollars from public coffers.
Patrick Korten of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, Washington-based law firm that helps churches defend liberty issues, said the city violated both state and federal religious liberty laws.
"There is obviously a strong tradition in America of local governments being in charge of matters that are purely local, but when those zoning rules are used in a way as to trample fundamental constitutional rights, then the local governments have gone too far and must be reined in," Korten said.
At issue is 5 1/2 acres the church wants to turn into a parking lot for 300 to 500 cars. The church also wants to remodel the fourth floor of a building to expand its religious education program, the newspaper reported.
The church purchased six lots and razed the houses to build the proposed lot. The move upset some in the community because it removed property from the tax rolls and could case an increase in traffic.
"It's a different kind of place and we like it the way it is," said, Bon-E Holliday, who has lived near the church for more than 40 years. "The church should be more friendly to its neighborhood. It's been ruining our neighborhood."
She said the church should move if it needs room to grow.
"This is a city and it needs its money to survive," she said. "It cuts into our taxes and we can't afford that."
U.S. District Judge W. Royal Furgeson may rule within the next four weeks, the newspaper reported.
