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Summarized by Kent Larsen
Boston Globe Supports Provision That Allowed Boston Temple
Boston Globe pg C6 5Mar00 N1
Boston Globe Editorial
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS -- A Boston Globe editorial looks at the
so-called Dover amendment, the Massachusetts religious-zoning law
that had helped the LDS Church get the Boston Temple past the
objections of its neighbors. The Globe supports the amendment, saying
"the state is wise to interpose the so-called Dover amendment in the
way of a neighborhood veto." The editorial puts the Globe on the side
of the LDS Church. One of the lawsuits against the Boston Temple
claims that the Dover amendment is unconstitutional under the U.S.
Constitution's 1st and 14th amendments.
The Dover amendment arose because of a controversy in the
Massachusetts town of Dover, which tried to keep the Catholic Church
from purchasing an old estate and turning it into a priory through a
town bylaw. Then state attorney general Francis E. Kelly sued, and
simultaneously encouraged the state Legislature to exempt religious
and educational institutions from local zoning. Although the town
backed down and allowed the Catholics to purchase and convert the
estate, the Legislature passed the law exempting religious
institutions and educational institutions in 1950.
The LDS Church isn't the only institution to benefit from the law. a
Congregational Church and a synagogue in Acton are expanding their
buildings under the law, and a 1991 change which included day care
centers allowed the Lil' Munchkins center in Scituate, the Barn Yard
in Westwood and the Language Enrichments Arts Program in Sudbury,
Massachusetts to escape the resistance that is common to day care
centers.
The law does allow local zoning boards to regulate the size and
height of a building, within reason. This led to the recent decision
by a Massachusetts district judge who ruled that the Church must keep
the overall height of the Temple, including its steeple, within the
town zoning law. The town had ruled, deferring to the Dover
amendment, that the Church could put an 81-foot steeple on the
58-foot building. The judge's ruling will limit the Church to an
additional 14 feet over the 58-foot building height.
One Massachusetts legislator, John Stasik, is currently planning
legislation to give cities and towns greater say, while keeping most
of the law's provisions. He wants towns and cities to be able to
control the height, size, lighting and landscaping of buildings. But
the Globe says that the law already has "adequate provision for local
concerns to be ventilated." It says that the Dover amendment puts the
burden of proving the need for restrictions where it belongs -- on
the communities, not on religious and educational institutions.
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