HANOVER — A couple on Greensboro Road continues to oppose the Hanover Planning Board’s reluctant decision last year to approve Christ Redeemer Church’s (CRC) plan for a roughly 24,000-square-foot, two-story church near their home.

Lara Acker, who was out of town this week and could not be reached for comment, grew up on Greensboro Road and she and her husband, Jeff, have lived there together since 2002, he said. Though only Lara Acker’s name is on the appeal, both she and her husband share similar views on the issue.

“Our main concern is simply the intensity of use is not appropriate for a residential neighborhood,” Jeff Acker said in a phone interview. “Our opposition would be the same no matter what it is.”

Acker submitted an appeal of the Planning Board’s decision on Sept. 4 to the New Hampshire Land Use Review Docket, which was established in July of 2023 to accelerate the hearing of land use appeals. It is based in Hillsborough County North Superior Court and has statewide jurisdiction.

The amended appeal, submitted on Acker’s behalf by her lawyers Timothy Sullivan and Michael Courtney of Concord-based Upton and Hatfield LLP, contains two claims: That RSA: 674: 76, a 2022 law that prevents zoning ordinances and planning regulations from prohibiting the construction of buildings for religious purposes, is unconstitutional and that the Hanover Planning Board acted “unlawfully and unreasonably” when it granted approval to CRC’s incomplete site plan application.

The church did not submit typically required elements such as an outdoor lighting plan, drainage plan, and vehicular and pedestrian circulation plan with the proposal.

The Planning Board’s approval for the new church came on Dec. 5, 2023, nearly seven years after the first submission of the plan. Despite opposition from the neighbors and the Planning Board’s concerns about approving the construction of the large church in a residential area, NH RSA: 674:76 forced the Planning Board’s hand into approving it.

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed the Republican-sponsored NH RSA 674:76 into law in July of 2022. It states “no zoning ordinance or site plan review regulation shall prohibit, regulate or restrict the use of land or structures primarily used for religious purposes.” The only exceptions are for building height, yard sizes, lot area, setbacks, open space and building coverage.

“The intended purpose is to protect churches from discriminatory application of zoning regulations,” former state Rep. Kurt Wuelper, R-Strafford, co-sponsor of the bill which eventually became NH RSA 674:76, said in a phone interview.

Chris Audino, CRC’s executive pastor, testified in support of the bill in March of 2022. In his testimony, Audino described CRC’s long struggle to find a location to build a church, according to minutes of the Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee.

CRC sought a variance to build in a different district in 2007, but the Hanover Zoning Board of Adjustments (ZBA) denied the request.

In 2016, the church bought property on Greensboro Road. The Hanover ZBA approved CRC’s proposal under a few conditions, including that the church would have an occupancy of 300 people instead of 415, it could not operate as early in the morning as it had proposed to, and in order to keep noise levels down, it would need to leave the windows closed. CRC appealed these conditions to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which ruled in CRC’s favor in April 2023. 

“The problem was real and the bill addressed that problem in a very narrow and specific way,” said Wuelper.

Audino said the 2022 law established “guidelines and parameters for the Planning Board so they couldn’t put subjective standards on us.” 

He said the church has “always been out for meeting objective standards. It’s when standards get subjective that things get hairy because nobody can meet a moving target.”

However, residents of Greensboro Road along with several town officials disagree. At the time of the approval in December of 2023, the Planning Board unanimously supported filing a petition calling on state legislators to repeal and replace the law. The petition was not successful.

“I think that Hanover’s on the right track and this law needs to be questioned,” said state Sen. Sue Prentiss, D-Lebanon, in a phone interview. 

Prentiss said zoning is developed to protect the character of neighborhoods and local communities should be able to make decisions about which areas have businesses, and which areas are residential. “The law feels to me that this is an overreach,” she said.

Hanover amended zoning ordinances to treat places of worship like any other place of assembly, before the signing of NH RSA 674:76, according to Robert Houseman, Hanover’s planning, zoning & codes director and interim town manager. The change did not help CRC because it had already purchased land on Greensboro Road.

Because of the neighbors’ opposition, CRC did search for other land, but could not find anything that suited their needs.

“Churches have been in residential communities forever,” said Audino.

In the appeal filed this month, Acker’s attorneys argue RSA 674:76 violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from making any laws which favor religion over non-religion and vice versa, according to the Legal Information Institute. Since the law gives religious institutions privileges not awarded to non-religious entities, the lawyers claim, it also violates the Equal Protection Clause, meant to ensure every U.S. citizen is granted the same legal protections. 

They also assert the decision to approve the plan infringes on Acker’s individual right to protect and enjoy her property.

The argument against the town and the Planning Board is since the law is unconstitutional, the Hanover Planning Board’s decision to approve CRC’s incomplete application on the basis of RSA: 674:76, is therefore unlawful.

“To me and to my wife this is an existential question and we are never going to give up,” said Jeff Acker. “There is not an amount of money that will make me stop.”

Audino described the Ackers’ efforts as “stall tactics” aimed to “hurt us financially until we give up,” said Audino. “They will cause whatever pain they possibly can to make us change our minds.”

For the Ackers, the size of the project is something they cannot accept.

“We are trying to preserve what we think is a really undervalued neighborhood,” said Jeff Acker. “It’s where a bunch of regular people live and have raised their families for years and years. There’s no other house in Hanover for us.”

No matter the outcome of the appeal, CRC has approval from the town of Hanover to build, Houseman said. However, construction cannot begin until they get an alteration of terrain permit from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.