The showdown over Scientology in Sandy Springs comes up for a vote Tuesday night that both opponents and supporters hope puts an end to the matter.
It isn’t likely.
The threat of a religious-liberty lawsuit looms if the City Council rejects outright the Church of Scientology’s request for a zoning change so it can move from its current state headquarters in Dunwoody into a Sandy Springs office building it owns.
On the other side are the more than 700 residents – and a land-use attorney they’ve hired – who insist traffic and parking issues should keep the church, or any other similarly large project, from the Roswell Road-Glenridge Drive intersection.
In the middle is a Planning Commission recommendation from last month that doesn’t satisfy either side: allowing the church in, but not allowing it to add a fourth floor to the site, in deference to resident worries about traffic and parking.
“It all falls on the council,” said City Attorney Wendell Willard.
Both sides are hopeful their arguments will sway the council. But members have kept mum on their thoughts even as the request was delayed for months.
The same council deferred voting on the issue in October, saying the Planning Commission needed to review the latest conditions offered by the church in the hopes of winning approval.
Since then, Councilman Tibby DeJulio beat back a challenger in the November election. The request falls in his district.
But it will be the one of the last big decisions by this council: Two council members opted against running again. Two new members take seats in January.
“They bought a three-floor building zoned for offices only, and we feel they are asking for special treatment to expand the size and use,” said Jane Kelly, a representative of the 500-homeowner High Point Civic Association. “We feel the city should not burden the citizens of Sandy Springs because of the church’s poor choice of location.”
The church has repeatedly amended its request, in a bid to address resident complaints.
Tuesday night, it will again propose a redesign to the site that allows it to add a fourth floor but still keep 111 parking spaces.
The additional floor is needed, said attorney William Woodson Galloway, because of the nature of Scientology worship. In addition, the church has offered to limit capacity to 170 people in the church at any one time.
“The city cannot come up with a single rational reason to not approve, when we have been trying to address every perceived and potential problem,” Galloway said. “It’s just that they don’t want the church.”
Residents insist their opposition is to the site and potential problems, not the controversial 50-year-old religion. There are more than 700 signatures on petitions opposing the project. Plus, there are 16 neighborhood associations that voted to formally oppose it.
Opponents to a Lilburn mosque’s attempt to expand last month also framed their feud as with zoning, not religion. But that case is expected to be appealed, claiming the denial ran afoul of the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
The attorney in the Lilburn case is Doug Dillard, Galloway’s partner in an Atlanta law firm.
"There will be a vote, but it may not be over just yet," Willard said.
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