Historic District Commission Forced to Reconsider Own Decision

At stake is Ascension House, deemed historic, then slated for demolition.

Also at stake is a potential lawsuit that one official says could "bankrupt the City."

Montgomery Preservation Inc., an advocacy group that fights for the preservation of historic properties and buildings in Montgomery County, has officially challenged the City Historic District Commission's decision to grant Church of the Ascension a demolition permit for the house.

Michele M. Rosenfeld, MPI's attorney, said MPI and the Gaithersburg Historical Association were not notified prior to the January meeting when the HDC approved the demolition permit.

The HDC was not given the opportunity to consider all the facts, she said.

"As far as we're concerned, there is legal authority for them to deny the demolition permit," she said.

On Feb. 8, the HDC voted 5 to 2 in favor of reconsidering its decision at a special March 15 meeting.

"We're going to hear from MPI's attorney, the Church's attorney and the City attorney," said Clark Day, chairman of the HDC. After hearing all the arguments, he said he was not sure if the board would vote immediately or recess to consider the information.

"The feeling is they feel we did not do what we're supposed to do as the HDC," Day said.

The Church wants to tear down a building at 202 S. Summit Ave. across from its sanctuary to build a 60 space parking lot. It needs the new lot because it will lose the overflow parking it currently has at Gaithersburg High School when the school's modernization begins this month, church officials said.

Before the permit was granted, Jody Kline, a lawyer with Miller, Miller and Canby, representing the Church, said  that he felt the Church should be granted the permit under the Federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA.

The Act, passed in 2000, gives protections to religious institutions from land use regulations that would substantially burden the institutions.

Church officials say they would be burdened without the additional parking on the Ascension House site.

City officials have said that if the permit were not issued and the Church challenged the decision under RLUIPA, the ensuing litigation would be lengthy and extremely costly for the city.

In January, the HDC, which was formed only months ago, narrowly granted the demolition permit in a split vote, 4 to 3.

The granting of that permit was based largely on a Jan. 4 memo by City Attorney N. Lynn Board, wherein she con

Only a month before that, as a result of the Churh's demolition application, the HDC considered the property and determined that it met the qualifications for historic designation.

Rosenfeld said appealing the HDC's decision to issue the permit was an option, but reconsideration was a more appropriate first step since the board did not have the chance to hear all sides, she said.

Greg Ossont, the City's Planning director, said a reconsideration is an unusual thing in Gaithersburg.

"I have not [seen a reconsideration], we have not, obviously the HDC has not," he said. "It's the first time I've witnessed something like this."