Residents Suing Town Over Kingdom Hall Ruling

Four months after the town of Merrimack settled a court case with the Jehovah's Witnesses over allowing the group to build a Kingdom Hall on Wire Road, a new case is bringing them back to court, this time at the hands of the neighbors across from the now-approved project.

Robert and Donna Walles, who live at 58 Wire Road, directly across from what could be the 66-car parking lot for the church, filed a lawsuit with the Hillsborough County Superior Court at the end of February seeking for the town to reverse a decision to settle a lawsuit with the congregation. The congregation slapped the town with a lawsuit after it was denied a special exception to build on the residential road.

“[The lawsuit is] really not at all to do with the church,” Bob Walles said. “If it were anything that didn't belong in a residential area, we'd be doing this.”

Walles and his wife have lived in their home since 1999. He said the idea of a church that will bring more traffic to an already busy road and potentially lower property values doesn't sit well with them. So much in fact, that if they lose this suit, they are seriously considering trying to sell the house and move.

With the help of some paralegals and law students and guidance from the court clerks, Walles, who lives on a fixed income due to a disability, said he put the lawsuit together himself when pressed against a deadline to file or miss their chance.

“The paralegals helped out just because they felt good for the cause,” Walles said.

The Jehovah's Witnesses approached the town's Zoning Board of Adjustment in 2010 to seek a special exception to build a church on old farm land on the residential road.

Several meetings later, after impassioned pleas from abutters to prevent this project, the ZBA ruled in the fall of 2010 against the special exception, citing traffic and public nuisance concerns, among other things. The congregation appealed the ruling and the ZBA denied the appeal so the congregation sued the town, charging the town's special exception process is unconstitutional in that it lets a board apply one set of rules to one group and a different set to another. It also charged, among other things, that the town treated the church differently than it would have another denomination, violating the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

On Nov. 16, the board reversed its decision against the congregation in a settlement that effectively granted the special exception the board initially denied and moved it on to the Planning Board.

The Planning Board approved the project, but not before the Walleses appealed the .

On Jan. 25, the Walleses were also Following the meeting, Bob Walles said he would regroup and see what his options are. In accordance with town statutes, the Walleses had 30 days from the Jan. 25 meeting to appeal the ruling to the Superior Court. Walles filed the lawsuit on Feb. 24.

“I contend that the members of the Zoning Board, during non-public and illegal meetings with the Town Counsel and Town Attorney were told to grant the special exception, to mitigate the potential legal costs of defending the pending lawsuit brought against the town by the congregation,” Walles said in the suit.

He said he believes the decision was made "under duress" with pressure to settle to avoid further expense to the town. "Cost to the town is not a viable reason or legal criteria to grant a 'special exception,' " Walles wrote.

It's because he believes that the board was pressured to make this decision that the only thing he is seeking in the suit is to “reverse the special exception granted to the Jehovah's Witnesses and prohibit the construction of a church on Wire Road, a residentially zoned neighborhood.”

Town Manager Eileen Cabanel said the lawsuit, which was served to the town on March 23, is in the hands of attorney Garry Lane, who is reviewing it, and that she couldn't speak to it right now. The town must respond to the suit by May 3, but in that time, the congregation has every right to continue moving forward with their construction as approved by the Planning Board, Cabanel said.

Walles said because he and his wife were the ones to appeal the decision, they are legally the only ones who can continue to pursue this case, but that it has brought the neighborhood together and several neighbors have committed a total of around $1,000 already for legal fees incurred in this process and they are considering some sort of block party-style fundraiser to add to that total.

“It's not us against the Jehovah's Witnesses, this is between us and the town,” Walles said. “It's not about religion and I don't want people fundraising on hate.”

“The town has until May 3 to reply to the suit,” Walles said, sitting in his dining room on Friday afternoon, watching as work was completed for the day after an old farmstand was moved from the front of the property to the back of the property line across the street. “So now it's just a hurry up and wait kind of thing.”