Church and city of San Diego reach settlement in equal access case involving unfair rental fees
Baptist church defended by ADF succeeds in securing fair treatment by city officials Thursday, October 26, 2006

SAN DIEGO — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund secured a settlement agreement today in a lawsuit brought by a local church against city officials. Canyon Ridge Baptist Church rents a city-owned facility and filed suit when it learned the city had been charging higher rental fees for churches than those charged to similar non-religious community groups.

“A landlord should not treat Christian tenants any differently than other tenants. This is especially true when the landlord is the government,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Tim Chandler. “A city cannot single out religious organizations for unequal treatment in comparison to other similarly situated groups. San Diego officials are doing the right thing in agreeing to correct this injustice.”

Canyon Ridge Baptist Church rents space at the Kearny Mesa Recreation Center. The city provides the recreation center at no cost or for a nominal fee to many governmental and community groups. But San Diego officials were automatically charging religious organizations the highest rate, which is many times higher than what other community groups are charged. On June 16, a federal judge granted ADF attorneys’ request that the city be barred from charging the church the higher fees while the case, Canyon Ridge Baptist Church v. City of San Diego, moves forward (www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3781).

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