1 1 ZONING MEETING JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP 2 * * * 3 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 4 * * * 5 DATE OF HEARING: Monday, July 7, 2003 6 Beginning at 9:05 o'clock a.m. 7 PLACE OF HEARING: One Business Park Drive 8 Dayton, Ohio 45427 9 ZONING BOARD: James Heyduck 10 David Rench Ruth Calhoun 11 Evelyn Fields 12 ALSO PRESENT: Verne Fortson 13 * * * 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 2 1 MR. RENCH: All right. We'll call 2 this meeting of the Jefferson Township Zoning 3 Commission to order. Please stand for the pledge 4 of allegiance. 5 (Thereupon, the pledge of allegiance 6 was recited.) 7 MR. RENCH: Roll call. Evelyn 8 Fields? 9 MS. FIELDS: Present. 10 MR. RENCH: Ruth Calhoun? 11 MS. CALHOUN: Present. 12 MR. RENCH: James Heyduck? 13 MR. HEYDUCK: Here. 14 MR. RENCH: David Rench, present. 15 The fifth seat is not occupied at this time. The 16 purpose of today's hearing is a continuation of 17 Case ZC-003-001. I don't see Pastor Larkins. Is 18 there anyone here that represents the Shekinah 19 Ranch for some questions? 20 MS. HYMAN: I represent Shekinah 21 Ranch, but he should be on his way. I'm not sure 22 if I can answer all the questions. 23 MR. RENCH: All right. Ruth, you 24 want to -- do you have some questions? Maybe 25 this lady can answer them for Pastor Larkins 3 1 since he's not here. 2 MR. RENCH: What's your name, 3 please? 4 MS. HYMAN: Christine Hyman, 5 H Y M A N. 6 MS. CALHOUN: I have several 7 questions. You was at Shank Road, 5600 Shank 8 Road? 9 MS. HYMAN: Yes, ma'am. 10 MS. CALHOUN: And you moved? 11 MS. HYMAN: Yes, ma'am. 12 MS. CALHOUN: You had the camp there 13 at Shank Road? 14 MS. HYMAN: Yes, ma'am. 15 MS. CALHOUN: Would you say why you 16 moved there? 17 MS. HYMAN: Why we moved? 18 MS. CALHOUN: You already had a day 19 camp there. 20 MS. HYMAN: More space. We were 21 actually occupying about 17 acres and now 22 occupying about 36. And then we wanted to be 23 able to build stables, couple of stables, 24 actually, some new facilities. 25 MS. CALHOUN: Now, also at the day 4 1 camp do you have -- do you have any -- some of 2 the things you listed -- do you have any academic 3 programs, special programs for the children? 4 Looks like it's more or less a -- 5 MS. HYMAN: Actually, everything we 6 do is academic. Our major focus is care to 7 education. So when we're doing the animal 8 education, we're teaching the basics about the 9 animals, things they eat, all types of things. 10 We then wrap recreation things around that. We 11 were looking to do an after school type thing, 12 and we've had some of our day camps and some of 13 the kids do reading. Everything we do is based 14 around academics. 15 MS. CALHOUN: I mean, something 16 pertaining to, maybe, school work. 17 MS. HYMAN: You mean as far as 18 spelling and -- those are things that we -- 19 MS. CALHOUN: Special classes, 20 tutoring, better academics at school. 21 MS. HYMAN: We have had some 22 segments at our camp where we have done that and 23 we're looking to facilitate more. 24 MS. CALHOUN: Also, this is 25 seasonal. This would be like summer only, three 5 1 months? 2 MS. HYMAN: Probably spring, summer 3 and fall. I mean, once there -- 4 MS. CALHOUN: Year around? 5 MS. HYMAN: For the most part, yes, 6 ma'am. 7 MS. CALHOUN: Operations would be 8 daily overnight camp or just day camp? 9 MS. HYMAN: Everything -- more than 10 likely it's going to be day camp during the 11 summer, but everything else we do is by 12 reservation. We're not going to have people out 13 there every single day. People are going to have 14 to call and make reservations to do specific 15 activities. 16 MS. CALHOUN: So, now, another 17 question is how your kids are drawn and from 18 where. What agencies, organizations or churches 19 or what? 20 MS. HYMAN: All the above. 21 Churches' youth groups, recreation centers, 22 neighborhood, youth, anybody really. 23 MS. CALHOUN: All right. Thank you. 24 MS. HYMAN: You're welcome. 25 MR. RENCH: Are your -- along that 6 1 line, are your participants, are they brought 2 there on a bus or can I just bring my child there 3 and register them and drop them off? How does -- 4 what kind of traffic are we looking at in and out 5 of this facility? Is it all bus traffic? If you 6 have 200 kids there one day, do we have 200 cars 7 dropping off 200 children? How does that work? 8 MS. HYMAN: When we work with 9 outside groups, maybe the public school systems, 10 they may have buses, they may have vans. And if 11 we have -- depending on what size of group and 12 we're keeping to about a 100 -- we may have a 13 couple buses and they'll come around maybe 8:00 14 or 9:00, about 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning. I 15 think pretty much the bus drivers will stay and 16 then the kids will have their activities and then 17 they'll leave. We do have parents just dropping 18 off the kids for camp. It hasn't been up to 200 19 cars. We have a time span of maybe an hour and a 20 half. Between 8:00 and 9:30, that's when the 21 parents will be dropping off the kids and picking 22 them up in the evening. Probably about an hour 23 and a half span. 24 MR. RENCH: I was just pulling a 25 figure out. 7 1 MS. HYMAN: Vans, buses, some cars 2 but not a tremendous amount of traffic. 3 MR. RENCH: The stables that you 4 operate, is this strictly in the past -- has this 5 strictly been as a day camp or are you operating 6 a riding stable? In other words, can anybody 7 come in for a fee, ride or is it -- 8 MS. HYMAN: We're certified with the 9 Certified Horsemanship Association, and we do -- 10 it's probably more so a riding academy. People 11 do call and they may want to come out and do just 12 a regular trail ride. We don't offer that 13 because of insurance purposes, and so we may have 14 classes and stay once a week for an hour. 15 Somebody, youth or else, can come out and 16 basically learn horsemanship skills. So we don't 17 just have a bunch of people coming out to ride. 18 MR. RENCH: I see. I see. Evelyn, 19 do you have any questions? 20 MS. FIELDS: No. You covered the 21 questions. 22 MR. RENCH: Mr. Heyduck, any 23 questions? 24 MR. HEYDUCK: (Nods head side to 25 side.) 8 1 MR. RENCH: Anything else? 2 MS. CALHOUN: No. 3 MR. RENCH: Yes? 4 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: May I address 5 the group, please? 6 MR. RENCH: I'm afraid not. We set 7 the ground rules last week as I was explaining. 8 Let me explain this to everybody why. We had 9 this hearing 30 days ago, approximately 30 days 10 ago, and at that time we tabled a vote on the 11 resolution; and at that time we said we would 12 take no more testimony other than any other 13 questions that we might have for the applicant, 14 and so that's the way we intend to proceed with 15 this meeting today. 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Well, my 17 comment would be very brief, sir. 18 MR. RENCH: If I let you start, then 19 I've got to let everybody talk. Sorry about 20 that. Pastor Larkins, we will give you a second 21 if there's anything that you would like to add as 22 the applicant. 23 PASTOR LARKINS: Well, actually, we 24 have asked several of our community constituents 25 to come here and speak on our behalf and which 9 1 Willie Craig is one of them, Floyd Johnston, who 2 is the new president of the NAACP, Lawrence 3 McKee, Robin Mobley. 4 MR. RENCH: I understand, but as you 5 know from the last meeting, we're not taking any 6 more citizens' comments. 7 PASTOR LARKINS: Okay. I have here 8 something to help silence some of the 9 allegations. I have a letter here that was 10 issued to me on January 24 of 2002 from the 11 sheriff's department saying that there has never 12 been any problems with our organization. I also 13 have a letter here I would like to read that's 14 come from the Gibbs Law Firm on our behalf. I 15 appreciated the opportunity to speak with you by 16 telephone concerning your calling to establish a 17 youth outreach ministry in Jefferson Township. 18 Our firm is happy to be able to offer our support 19 for Shekinah Ranch's application for a 20 conditional use permit and to call the Jefferson 21 Township Zoning Board of Appeals (hereinafter, 22 Board) attention to the religious freedom issue 23 that may be raised if the application is denied. 24 As you may know, this firm has 25 served as general counsel to the Christian Law 10 1 Association for approximately 30 years. CLA is 2 the longest continuously operated religious 3 liberties organization in the United States and 4 is proud to be dedicated to promoting and 5 defending the rights of Bible believing churches 6 and Christians across the United States. In 7 accordance with this commitment, we've frequently 8 represented religious organizations that 9 encounter obstacles to using real property for 10 the purpose of religious exercise. 11 Most recently, we have successfully 12 represented churches under the Religious Land Use 13 and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 14 (RLUIPA). Currently, we have at least one case 15 pending in federal court involving the 16 deprivations of religious liberty in the land use 17 context. The principals embodied in RLUIPA enjoy 18 broad, bipartisan support: The legislation 19 sailed through both houses of Congress, virtually 20 unopposed, and was signed into law by President 21 Clinton on September 22, 2000. RLUIPA provides, 22 in relevant part, that no government shall impose 23 or implement a land use regulation in a manner 24 that imposes a substantial burden on the 25 religious exercise of a person including a 11 1 religious assembly or institution unless the 2 government demonstrates that imposition of the 3 burden of that person, assembly or institution 4 (A) is in furtherance of a compelling government 5 interest, (B) is the least restrictive means of 6 furthering that compelling government interest. 7 And it goes on but I have a copy of that letter 8 here for you that I would like to go in our file. 9 We're here in the community to 10 enhance the quality of life and to help children. 11 We have been compliant with this governing body 12 to hold off our activities, but now we must go 13 on. We're into the middle of the summer -- or 14 the beginning of the summer. We have counsel 15 groups and we have groups wanting to come in so 16 that we can teach them religious values and life 17 skills, and we thank this board for considering 18 and approving our zoning chance. Thank you. 19 MR. RENCH: Anybody have anything? 20 MS. CALHOUN: No. 21 MS. FIELDS: No. 22 MR. HEYDUCK: No. 23 MR. RENCH: Can I get a motion one 24 way or the other to vote? 25 MS. CALHOUN: I make a motion we 12 1 proceed with the vote. 2 MR. RENCH: All right. 3 MS. FIELDS: I second it. 4 MR. RENCH: All right. James 5 Heyduck, it's been moved and seconded, James, 6 that we vote on this issue. How do you vote? 7 MR. HEYDUCK: No. 8 MR. RENCH: Ruth Calhoun? 9 MS. CALHOUN: No. 10 MR. RENCH: Evelyn Fields? 11 MS. FIELDS: No. 12 MR. RENCH: The applicant has been 13 rejected by a 3-0 vote. This will now go before 14 the trustees, and they'll have final disposition 15 on this application. 16 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Are we 17 privileged of knowing why? 18 MR. RENCH: That you would have to 19 ask each individual. 20 UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Will they 21 write it out? 22 MR. RENCH: They're not required to 23 do that, sir. No. Can I get a motion to 24 adjourn? 25 MS. CALHOUN: I make a motion to 13 1 adjourn. 2 MS. FIELDS: I second. 3 MR. RENCH: We're adjourned. Thank 4 you. 5 (Thereupon, the meeting was 6 concluded at 9:19 o'clock a.m.) 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 14 1 STATE OF OHIO ) 2 COUNTY OF MONTGOMERY ) SS: CERTIFICATE 3 I, Stacey L. Kimmel, a Notary Public 4 within and for the State of Ohio, duly 5 commissioned and qualified, 6 DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the above-named 7 meeting was reduced to writing by me 8 stenographically in the presence of the parties 9 and thereafter reduced to typewriting. 10 I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a 11 relative or Attorney of either party nor in any 12 manner interested in the event of this action. 13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set 14 my hand and seal of office at Dayton, Ohio, on 15 this _ _ _ day of _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _, 2003. 16 17 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ STACEY L. KIMMEL 18 NOTARY PUBLIC, STATE OF OHIO My commission expires 6-11-2006 19 20 21 22 23 24 25