CommUNITY Church will be allowed to locate in the commercial zone on Russell Drive, without rezoning, council members agreed, after getting legal advice from their attorney last week.

There were only four members of the public present for the council meeting Monday night when the advertised public hearing was to have been held, in addition to the five council members plus staff. The number was in sharp contrast to the more-than-100 church members expected before the city’s attorney and the church’s attorney came to an agreement last week.

After the meeting, Salem City Manager Kevin Boggess explained the city will allow the church to locate in the building formerly used by Designed Telecommunications – once necessary renovations have been made and approved by the building inspector and fire marshal to turn the manufacturing space into an assembly area.

A prepared statement released Feb. 4 explained why Salem City Council members decided not to fight the church’s request: “After a great deal of consultation and research, the City of Salem has determined that it is not in the city’s best interest to challenge a federal statute in an effort to keep CommUNITY Church from locating on Russell Drive and occupying a building situated in an area that is currently zoned business-commerce. …Although the City will not be rezoning the property as requested, it recognizes, in these unique circumstances, that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 takes priority.”

City leaders said part of their decision was the potential for a legal battle to be both lengthy and costly.

The decision was announced the afternoon of Feb. 4, after Salem City Council members met the day before with City Attorney Steve Yost in a closed session to be briefed on legal precedents.

Council was scheduled to hold a public hearing on the matter on Feb. 8, which will probably be postponed.

After the Salem Planning Commission recommended denial of CommUNITY Church’s zoning application for a building on Russell Drive, the church retained an attorney who notified the city federal law gives the church the right to use the property.

In a statement released Feb. 4, Council released a prepared statement that said “After a great deal of consultation and research, the City of Salem has determined that it is not in the city’s best interest to challenge a federal statute in an effort to keep CommUNITY Church from locating on Russell Drive and occupying a building situated in an area that is currently zoned business-commerce.

“…Although the City will not be rezoning the property as requested, it recognizes, in these unique circumstances, that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 takes priority.”

City leaders said part of their decision was the potential for a legal battle to be both lengthly and costly.

City Manager Kevin Boggess said today the potential delay of the request to rezone acreage zoned business-commerce to residential, which allows churches, was related to a letter sent last week by the church’s attorney, David Tenzer, to Salem City Attorney Steve Yost. Boggess said the letter outlined areas where Tenzer believed the city was in violation of federal guidelines.

“We need some additional time to digest what has been presented,” Boggess said. “What we don’t want to do is go through a public hearing tonight that may ultimately be affected by these legal arguments.”

While it appears tonight’s originally scheduled request request will be delayed until Feb. 8, Boggess pointed out it cannot officially be postponed until the item is presented at Monday night’s meeting at Andrew Lewis Middle School’s auditorium.

“We don’t want anybody to show up expecting there to be a public meeting,” Boggess said.