Nearly two years after the City of St. Michael and Big Lake Township’s Riverside Church tussled, both publicly and privately, over the current St. Michael Cinema building, a judgement has awarded more than $1.3 million to the church to cover its legal and court costs due to the past proceedings.
RELATED: View all NWCT articles related to the Riverside Church quest for the theater building
The ruling was handed down May 22 in St. Paul District Court (a federal court), more than 30 months after the St. Michael City Council ruled against a zoning ordinance change that would have allowed Riverside to purchase the theater, which had been vacant since it had closed in 2009. St. Michael eventually reversed that ruling after the two sides met, with legal counsel present, to go over some of the obstacles originally raised with Riverside filed for the ordinance change – including traffic flow at peak hours and capacity at the former Cinemagic site.
PDF: The Court Documents Filed by Riverside Church vs. City of St. Michael
That reversal paved the way for Riverside to follow through on its purchase agreement, but changes made to the location – which had been made by the Twin Cities-based Cinemasota group, who purchased the building in the meantime – had driven the cost of the building up above the price threshold for Riverside. Cinemasota decided, then, to keep the building and opened St. Michael Cinema in Summer 2015.
Riverside later followed through with its legal action, saying that though the city had changed its zoning rules, it had disobeyed prior legal precedent, namely the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). By delaying the process and not bringing the city up to code via the city’s planning and zoning process, it had impeded the building’s purchase.
The judge, Hon. Donovan Frank, agreed, saying the city could have used a Conditional Use Permit while still moving forward with the ordinance code changes, and could have addressed the traffic concerns while Riverside took ownership of the building.
St. Michael has not commented publicly on the ruling. It is a member of the League of Minnesota Cities, which protects communities from lawsuits and would assist with the ruling. Attorney George Hoff of the League of Minnesota Cities represented the city in the legal process.
Riverside stated back in 2015 it would continue to seek a judgement to cover its legal costs from its battle with the city, even as it let its dream of purchasing the theater site fade away.
“After changing its zoning ordinance earlier in the month, on April 21, 2105, St. Michael’s City Council issued a conditional use permit that would allow Riverside to use the theater property that the church has sought to purchase. While it is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit to get to this point, we are pleased the City has taken these two important steps. Despite this progress, the City’s past actions have created substantial financial barriers to Riverside’s proposed purchase. We will continue to work through the legal process to address these issues.”
A short time later, Cinemasota announced it would open St. Michael Cinema, which is running multiple theater screens and a live music venue – LeMusique Room – at the site.