Injunction to stop water cutoff at church denied
A garden hose stretched from a spigot on the outside of the Covenant Life Church building is used on July 14 to fill the fresh water tank of a travel trailer at the Solid Rock RV Park, operated by the church on its property off Norris Freeway and Andersonville Highway. (photo:G Chambers Williams III )
During an “emergency” hearing sought by the church, Covenant Life’s attorney, Daniel Sanders of Knoxville, acknowledged that the church has continued to provide water to the 16-space Solid Rock RV Park by using a garden hose connected to a spigot on the side of the church building, in circumvention of a Norris order the church had previously agreed to that city water service to the RV park be discontinued
In answer to a direct question from Brooks asking whether the garden hose was being used to circumvent the city’s order, Sanders answered, “Yes.”
“All of the water is paid for,” he added.
Norris City Attorney J. Edward Pratt, however, told the court that the church continues to operate the RV park illegally, having never obtained the proper zoning, site-plan approval or building permits required by the city.
In his decision against the church, Chancellor Brooks said:
“I am not going to grant a restraining order.”
He added that “There is no doubt [the RV park] was a commercial operation,” despite the church’s argument that it’s part of the Covenant Life “ministry” and that campers pay only “donations” to stay there.
Brooks told the church’s attorney: “Don’t use the spigot for the RVs; that’s the simple solution right now.”
The Chancery Court hearing was held shortly after court convened at 9 a.m. in the Anderson County Courthouse in Clinton. Norris officials said they were not notified about the hearing until after 7 p.m. Thursday, so they had to scramble to get their attorney to prepare a response to the church’s petition and change his schedule to attend.
After agreeing in May to disconnect its RV park from Norris city water, which was being provided by an unauthorized underground connection from the church, and passing an inspection that showed it had complied with the city’s order, Covenant Life received another demand from Norris on Aug. 10 that it stop providing water to RV park customers through the “temporary garden hose.”
Norris said in the Aug. 10 letter to Covenant Life: “Since that time [of the June 22 inspection], the city has become aware of continued water use from the Covenant Life Church to the Solid Rock RV Park.
“A garden hose has been observed to repetitively serve as an alternative water supply to some residing in the nonconforming/illegal RV Park, perpetuating its non-comforming/illegal use,” it continued.
The city’s letter again threatened the disconnection of city water service to the entire church property, which is meant to serve the church building.
But Sanders said the RV park residents would have no access to water without the garden hose, as the state health department had ordered the church to “cap the well” that had been in use since the water line was disconnected.
In mid-June, the church handed residents of the RV park a “Boil Water Notice” for the well water, which had been found by the Health Department to be contaminated by E. coli bacteria through “fecal matter.”
The church then began supplying water to the trailers via the garden hose.
“The City requires active assurance that Covenant Life Church is not using and will not use or allow use of a temporary garden hose or other devices to circumvent the stop work order released June 22, 2023,” the city wrote in the letter, which was signed by Norris Building Inspector Lisa Crumply and sent to the church by certified mail.
“Failure to comply within 7 days will result in metered water services being disconnected and the single water meter serving the property will be locked,” the letter continued.
“Due to the unauthorized installation, alteration, enlargement and/or connection, water services will terminate to the entire property.”
In Friday’s hearing, Sanders argued for the church that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that “water service is a basic right,” and that “We don’t think it’s constitutional” for the city to cut off the service.
Covenant Life built the RV park, with 16 spaces to the rear and side of the church building, nearly three years ago and began marketing it over the internet, through its own website and some RV community websites as a commercial enterprise.
“Campers,” most of whom have lived on the site for a year or more, were being charged $800 a month for each space.
But the church never applied to the city of Norris for a change in zoning that would have allowed an RV park on the property, at Andersonville Highway (Tenn. 61) and Norris Freeway (U.S. 441), and without ever getting the required building permits and a state Health Department license to operate the park.
Before the conclusion of Friday’s hearing, Norris officials offered to delay cutting off the church’s water supply until a full hearing – possibly within two weeks – could be held in Chancery Court over the city’s allegations that the RV park was built and is being operated illegally.
No court date had been set as of Monday.