CONCORD – The Merrimack Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses has asked a judge to declare the town’s zoning regulations unconstitutional, and stop officials from enforcing restrictions on churches in residential areas. 

A hearing on the congregation’s request for a preliminary injunction has been scheduled for Wednesday morning in U.S. District Court, before Magistrate Judge Landya McCafferty. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for Thursday afternoon, also, if a second day is required. 

The Merrimack Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Goffstown Harvest Christian Church both filed lawsuits last month in federal court, charging their respective towns with religious discrimination. 

Attorney Michael Tierney of Manchester represents both churches, but has requested a preliminary injunction only in the Merrimack case, court records show. 

The federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 holds that cities and towns can’t apply planning and zoning regulations in ways that “impose a substantial burden” on the freedom to worship, unless they can show that their regulations are “the least restrictive means” to the desired end. 

Courts around the country are still working out exactly how the law squares with local zoning and planning regulations, which the federal law recognizes have sometimes been used to cloak discrimination. 

The Merrimack Jehovah’s Witness Congregation seeks to build a Kingdon Hall on a 12-acre lot at 63 Wire Road, but the town zoning board declined to allow it, citing traffic concerns. 

Although Merrrimack zoning ordinances require a special exception to build a house of worship in a residential zone, Tieryney argues that most churches in town are located within residential areas, and the town hadn’t denied any other church’s request to build or expand in the last 15 years. 

The 90 to 100 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Merrimack have no place of worship in town, their suit states. In contrast, the Goffstown Harvest Christian Church has a church and food pantry on Mast Road, but seeks to build in an industrial zone off Route 114. 

– Andrew Wolfe

Source: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/905726-196/court-to-hear-jehovahs-witness-claim-wednesday.html