By Kate E. Salute
³Now we have a right to take the depositions ‹ the testimony under oath,² said the church¹s attorney, Mike McKenna, a Malverne resident. ³We have a right to get all the documents so that whatever we alleged in our complaints, we would be able to prove with the documents. At the conclusion of the discovery, then it would go to trial so that the people can decide whether or not [village officials] have violated the church¹s civil rights.²
The first proposal called for a 5,700-square-foot expansion that would have allowed for an extension of the altar and more space in the church itself, as well as a parking lot, but the proposal was not approved for a building permit. By its third attempt, a scaled-down expansion of half the original dimensions (2,275 square feet), Intercessor, a member of the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Churches, a schism from traditional Episcopal churches, was finally allowed a building permit.
During the course of construction, the church was issued three stop-work orders and, church officials claim, was asked to produce ³stuff that the village never asked of any other construction project in Malverne to produce,² said McKenna. He gave the example of a request from the village to produce the steel mill tickets for the steel used on the project. When the church was unable to produce the tickets (which state where the steel is from and its condition ‹ new, used or old), it claims the village demanded that the steel joints be X-rayed to determine the internal strength of the steel, something that McKenna says isn¹t a requirement under the village¹s building code and was a ³phenomenal expense.²
The legal dispute began in 2002, when the church responded to the numerous obstacles presented by the village by filing a federal lawsuit that alleged that during construction, church officials were harassed by the village, that the church¹s First Amendment rights were violated and that it was the victim of ³negligent and tortuous course of conduct ... which caused the Church to incur substantial and unnecessary costs and expenses.²
The case reached U.S. District Court in January 2005, and the court denied the church¹s request for a summary judgment and granted the village¹s motion to dismiss the case. The church was allowed a refile, which is how the case has reached the point of discovery.
In 2002, Intercessor was seeking $1 million in payment from the village and $750,000 in punitive damages for what the church claims is infringement of its religious freedom. ³We filed the lawsuit claiming that because they constrained the church from expanding, the church had less seats in their sanctuary that they would have otherwise been entitled to and, as a consequence, they lost money over the years, and that [the village] did it in part because this is not a traditional church,² said McKenna. The church sought another $250,000 as compensation for the cost of its repeated attempts to comply with the village¹s demands.
Now, McKenna says that $1 million might be for a single cause of action, but there are eight causes of action. ³It comes out to considerably more than a million,² he said.
Aside from the village Board of Trustees, the Architectural Review Board and the Zoning Board of Appeals, Trustees Joe Hennessy and James Callahan, the village¹s deputy mayor, as well as the superintendent of the Building Department, Robert Solarino, are defendants named individually and in their official capacities in the suit.
Solarino and Callahan had no comment on the matter. Hennessy, a former mayor of Malverne, said, ³It¹s unfortunate that as village officials we can¹t make any decisions without having to worry about getting sued, but we¹ll play it out, we¹ll see what happens. Discovery works both ways, and I am confident that the truth will come out.²
Comments about this story? Ksalute@liherald.com or (516)569-4000 ext. 205.
