Carlsborg: Foursquare Church sues Clallam County over youth camp plan

CARLSBORG — The Foursquare Church wants a fifth chance at permission to build a youth camp.

Turned down by the Clallam County hearings examiner in 2001 and 2003, by county commissioners last year, and dismissed with prejudice by Kitsap County Superior Court in January, King’s Way Foursquare Church has now filed suit in Jefferson County Superior Court.

David H. Neupert, an attorney for the church, said state law permits suits against a county to be filed in another county.

Bases for the action are the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA, the state constitution and the Bill of Rights, according to the action filed Tuesday in Port Townsend.

The camp would occupy 16.4 acres on Kitchen-Dick Road about three-quarters of a mile north of U.S. Highway 101 that the church has used since 1979. It would operate about 10 weeks a year.

For up to 350 people

At issue is the church’s plan for a camp for up to 264 overnight guests, mostly children, in 27 cabins, with total occupancy of 350 people.

It also would have an indoor swimming pool, kitchen/cafeteria, bathrooms, volleyball court, rock-climbing wall, athletic field, multi-purpose building, parking for five recreational vehicles, and amphitheater with over 300 seats.

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