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Issues & Positions
Cedar Grove Community Church
Background
Cedar Grove Community Church (CGCC) purchased a parcel of land on South Livermore Avenue with the intention of relocating from its facility on College Avenue. The parcel lies just outside the Livermore city limits in Alameda County and is therefore under County jurisdiction, subject to the East County Area Plan (ECAP), the land use policy instrument of the County of Alameda. ECAP designates the area in question as a "cultivated agriculture" zone. This designation imposes restrictions on CGCC's ability to build there.
CGCC is seeking to acquire a Conditioinal Use Permit from the Alameda County Planning Commission to build its facility. Citing the federal "Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000" (RLUIPA), CGCC maintains that as a religious institution it is exempt from ECAP's zoning restrictions.
FOL Position
Despite the spectrum of opinion among individual Friends in this highly charged and socially polarizing issue, it is outside FOL's venue to take a position in matters of debate over religious liberties and federal law. Our focus is, and always has been, open space and land use advocacy on a more pragmatic level. It remains for us, therefore, to formulate a position in this case as we would on any other land use question. In that regard, we turn to the "South Livermore Valley Area Plan (SLVAP)" portion of ECAP.
CGCC is a valued member of the Livermore community and would, in all liklihood, construct an attractive facility. But subjective evaluations such as these cannot be the basis for deciding the issuance of a County Conditional Use Permit. As part of its stated goal to promote cultivated agriculture in the region, SLVAP specifically directs the County to "prohibit additional development in the unincorporated portions of the South Livermore Valley unless it will directly further the purpose of expanding and enhancing cultivated agriculture." (Policy 340) This unambiguous policy applies equitably and indiscriminately to any and all development that is not cultivated agriculture, be it a housing tract, a shopping mall, or something more personal, such as a church.
We feel that the South Livermore Valley Area Plan has served Livermore well through the years by lending vision, order and consistency to land use in the South Livermore Valley, resulting in maintaining open spaces and agriculture while impeding the spread of houses, industry, and other types of non-agricultural development into that area. It is an unavoidable side effect that some individuals and groups may be unable to realize their development desires as a result of specific policies in the Plan. Nevertheless, we feel that the greater good of the community is served by a consistent application of the policies in the Plan. Leaving the arena of debate over religious liberties and federal law to those who would more appropriately contend there, FOL continues in its support of the specific land use policies contained in the South Livermore Valley Area Plan that are applicable to this case.
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