Norris files countersuit against Covenant Life Church
RV park case heads to federal court
The city of Norris has asked the U.S. District Court of Eastern Tennessee to hear its countersuit against Covenant Life Church that seeks to have the court order the shutdown of the church’s recreational-vehicle park.
City councilmembers authorized the countersuit and the move of the case to federal court from Anderson County Chancery Court after meeting with the city’s lawyers in a closed session Sept. 6.
This move came after the church filed its own lawsuit in Chancery Court in August, seeking to prevent the city from turning off water service to the church in response to Covenant Life’s action to provide Norris city water to the Solid Rock RV Park in violation of a June agreement with the city not to do so.
In its own lawsuit against the city, Covenant Life’s attorney, Daniel Sanders of Knoxville, argued that Norris was in violation of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in threatening to cut off water to the church without first going through court to do so.
The 14th amendment says, “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
During an “emergency hearing” in Chancery Court on Aug. 18, Chancellor James W. Brooks Jr. found no grounds for a claim based on the 14th amendment, and declined to issue the restraining order sought by the church.
But city officials have said that by opening a claim under the U.S. Constitution, Covenant Life cleared the way for moving the case to the U.S. District Court in Knoxville.
The city filed its answer to Covenant Life’s initial Chancery Court suit in the U.S. District Court, and began its own countersuit.
That suit seeks to have the District Court: “Issue a declaratory judgment finding that the use of the property as an RV park at 151 Sycamore Place, Clinton, Tennessee, is in violation of the terms of the Norris Municipal Code, International Building Code, International Plumbing Code, and Zoning Ordinance;”
“ … Enjoin Counter-Defendant Covenant Life International, Inc., from further use of their property at 151 Sycamore Place … in a manner that violates the terms of the Norris Municipal Code, International Building Code, International Plumbing Code, and Zoning Ordinance, and that this Court order the Counter-Defendant to cease operation of the Solid Rock Retreat RV Park including provision of city water services to the RV Park by any means;
“ … Grant Counter-Plaintiff the City of Norris, Tennessee, a preliminary injunction pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ordering Counter-Defendant to cease operation of the Solid Rock Retreat RV Park.”
It also asked that “The Court tax discretionary costs” against the church, which would include the city’s attorneys’ fees and other court costs.
City Attorney J. Edward Pratt and others met in closed session with the council Sept. 6 for guidance on how to proceed in Norris’ efforts to shut down the Solid Rock RV Park, which the church opened more than two years ago without first obtaining the proper zoning for the park, or submitting plans and getting building permits approved by the city’s Planning Commission.
The church in August opened the door for Norris to bring the matter before the courts by filing its own lawsuit against the city in the Chancery Court.
That action sought to prevent the city’s threatened cutoff of city water to the church, which had been providing water to the RV park residents in defiance of an agreement the church made with the city in May not to provide city water to the RV park residents.
During the emergency hearing Aug. 18, Covenant Life’s attorney, Daniel Sanders of Knoxville, admitted to the court that the church had continued to provide water to the 16-space RV Park through use of 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 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.”
That admission was made part of the city’s case filed in September in the federal court.
Norris City Attorney Pratt told the Chancery 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.”
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 a “temporary garden hose.”
Norris said in an 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 its city water line 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 and “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.”
Covenant Life built the RV park 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 their spaces.
But the church never applied to the city for 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 the Chancery Court hearing, Norris officials offered to delay cutting off the church’s water supply until a full hearing could be held over the city’s allegations that the RV park was built and is being operated illegally.
That’s what the action taken by the City Council last week sets out to do, while also transferring the case to the U.S. District Court.
No court date had been set yet as of Monday.
