Newport Beach backs its church parking law

June Casagrande

NEWPORT BEACH -- A resident who has taken the city to court for

alleged violations of church-state separation is bracing for battle, even

if the fight goes all the way to the Supreme Court.

City attorneys on Monday were preparing to file a response to John W.

Nelson’s charges that the city’s practice of not enforcing parking meters

near churches on Sunday morning is unconstitutional.

“The allegation is that this practice violates the Establishment

Clause,” said Assistant City Atty. Daniel Ohl. “We don’t think it does.”

Nelson, a Newport Beach resident, filed the suit last month, saying

the city should overturn its ordinance to allow free Sunday morning

parking at meters near Christ Church by the Sea, Christian Science Church

and Reading Room, St. James Episcopal Church of Newport Beach and Our

Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church. These houses of worship, all on the

peninsula, are the only ones affected by the ordinance because others are

not in metered areas.

Most parking meters in the city are enforced from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Adjacent to these four churches, however, a city ordinance from the 1970s

requires meters to be in effect from 1 to 6 p.m.

“I want to be clear that I’m not out to act against religious worship;

I’m out to protect religious worship,” said Nelson, who has filed the

suit alone without backing from any other individual or group. “We’ve

been in a holding pattern, but things are probably going to start to heat

up now. . . . I plan to stick to my guns -- all the way to the Supreme

Court if I have to.”

City officials say they will leave it up to the courts to decide

whether the ordinance is constitutional.

“I’m hopeful we’ll be able to meet with the other side, set up a

briefing schedule and that the court can come up with a resolution,” Ohl

said.

If the courts side with Nelson, Ohl said, the city will comply with

its orders.