When does outreach go too far?

Call it a draw: The Door Christian Fellowship Church won’t be holding any more events at small neighborhood parks this summer, and the city council plans to revise the city’s event permit ordinance to clarify the rules for future events.

At issue is how large and loud events at neighborhood parks can be. Most of the city’s 15 parks – Bubany, Father Dunston, Golden Age, Hadden, Henrietta, Indian Hills, Mossman, Sky City, Stagecoach and Viro Circle – are neighborhood parks. Those parks are “designed for neighborhood-scale events, picnics and social events to serve the adjacent neighborhood,” City Manager Maryann Ustick said. Notably, they don’t have restroom facilities.

That leaves three larger parks – Ford Canyon, Playground of Dreams and the sports complex  – plus Courthouse Plaza, that the city says could accommodate The Door’s events.

However, The Door’s Assistant Pastor Steven Annichiarico said that would impede the church’s mission and threatened legal action if The Door is denied permits for future events in neighborhood parks.

“We don’t want to be relegated to one side of town or one neighborhood, we want to make sure we are meeting the needs in the community of all people,” Annichiarico said during a public hearing on the church’s appeal at the city council meeting Aug. 23. “We perceive this sudden invoking of an obscure passage in an ordinance…this seems like a smokescreen for religious discrimination.”

The dispute arose after The Door had an event without a permit at Viro Circle Park June 17. Neighbors complained to District 4 Councilor Fran Palochak, who confronted the event hosts at the park. Details diverge from there depending on who’s telling the story, but people agree that nobody walked away satisfied.

Annichiarico, who claims permits for neighborhood events have not been required in the past, recently met with Ustick and Community Services Coordinator Ben Welch.

“During this meeting I was reassured that we would be able to hold events in various neighborhood parks if I would follow the permit process,” Annichiarico said.

Ustick explained permits have been required for about the last four and a half years.

The church had to seek special event permits and get food handler permits for events where they would cook food. One, at Father Dunston Park, was approved; two, scheduled for Viro Circle and Bubany parks, were denied because they would cause “undue hardship” on the surrounding neighborhoods – a point the church disputed in its appeal.

The dozen or fewer neighborhood ministry events every summer typically consist of  “serving a couple of dozen hot dogs, playing music, then playing a 20-minute Billy Graham video at the end…then a short message where we invite people to pray,” Annichiarico said. Attendance is usually 30 to 45 people, but the June 17 event drew about 75 or 80, he said.

Residents testified that the event was noisy and included a band, as well as amplified personal testimonials about sensitive subjects in “graphic, vulgar and obscene language.”

Viro Circle resident Benina Maldonado said she arrived home at 8:15 pm to find two cars blocking her driveway. When she spoke to the occupants, one told her to mind her own business and the other said, “F*ck off.” She called the police and went inside her home.

“The music was too loud. We could not watch TV. I could not enjoy my evening. I had just gotten home from a doctor’s appointment with my mother, who has cancer. I want to enjoy my night when I get home,” Maldonado said. “I don’t want to hear people talking about their problems when I have to deal with some of my own problems.”

Maldonado went on to describe the sorts of testimonials she could hear during the event.

“There was testimony of rape, incest and people being abused. If there’s kids at the park, I don’t think they should be hearing that,” she said. “As an educator that works at Stagecoach Elementary School, my kids were at this park. I don’t appreciate them listening to that.”

Resident Marisa Hutchinson opposes future events at the park. Her main problems were parking and rowdy attendees disrupting the neighborhood.

“As they were walking to the park they were banging on my fence, agitating my dog. I’m going out there and physically asking them to please stop. They’re looking at me like I’m crazy,” Hutchinson said. “If the event were to take place at Viro Circle Park, we would like the organizers to set some rules and take some action to prevent the repeat of those issues so that the residents and neighbors are not disturbed.”

Annichiarico said the church would abide by any noise, crowd or parking rules the city imposes on future events, but, “I am concerned because we had to cancel eight events, and I am very concerned if serving hot dogs and showing a Billy Graham video to our community is called undue hardship,” he said.

Palochak testified in the city’s favor, so she recused herself from council discussion and voting. After about an hour in closed session, the other four council members voted to uphold the denial but agreed to review the ordinance.

“We do want to work with The Door in the future. We want to be clear that this was a denial made based on the way the ordinance stands currently. We have to follow the legality of that and that is why we denied it,” Councilor Sarah Piano, Dist. 3, said after the vote. “We would like to work with The Door and get your input. We would like to amend the ordinance as there are some unclear variables.”

By Holly J. Wagner
Sun Correspondent