Tom Cruise himself could show up to make the case that the Church of Scientology be allowed to convert an office building in Sandy Springs into its Georgia - and Deep South - headquarters, and members of 15 neighborhood associations would be unmoved.
Even Cruise, they say, wouldn’t have a place to park.
"That property just doesn’t have enough parking for a church," said Mark Sampl, a leader in one of the city’s largest coalitions of homeowners, the Sandy Springs Council of Neighborhoods. "When their parking fills up, it suddenly is spilling out onto our streets and in our neighborhoods."
The church has been trying since last spring to get city approval to rezone the Georgian brick building at Roswell Road and Glenridge Drive so it can move from Dunwoody.
The city has deferred twice as attorneys from Sandy Springs and Scientology hammered out conditions.
The delays have helped galvanize resident opposition. More than 500 have signed petitions urging an outright denial, saying even the existing parking isn’t enough and the church will increase traffic problems at the oddly aligned intersection.
The city’s planning commission will vote on the matter tonight after reviewing two sets of conditions.
The original set of conditions requires the church to keep the existing 111 parking spaces. A compromise allows it to convert 30 spaces to add a fourth-floor to the church.
The compromise also limits occupancy to 283 people, the maximum allowed under the city’s parking code, said attorney W. Woodson Galloway, who is representing the church.
"All we are asking for is that the Church of Scientology be treated the same way every other church is treated," he said.
Residents have avoided criticizing the controversial church, saying they would oppose any church at the site because of the parking and traffic problems.
But they note that the nontraditional nature of the church - which calls for a gradual progression of study in classrooms - means that those rooms, not the relatively small sanctuary, should count when calculating parking needs.
"They are being disingenuous, because classrooms are the central part of Scientology," said Sheila O’Shea, who lives in Round Hill Condominiums, near the site. "It’s like a Catholic church saying the confessional is the sanctuary and the pews are just classrooms."
City officials have listened to such statements but have themselves trod carefully with the church, which has a successful history of suing to get its way.
"Any time we are dealing with a religious institution, any religious institution, we are extremely careful," said Mayor Eva Galambos.
Galloway, in the initial application and letters to city staff, made it clear that a denial would be seen as a violation of Scientology’s state and federal rights.
He said the church wants to work out a deal but is adamant that it needs the full four floors. Anything less would be "discriminatory" based on the federal Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act, he said.
If that means a lawsuit, some residents are ready for the fight. Sandy Springs was carved out of Fulton County four years ago, they said, largely because people wanted more control over zoning and their own destiny.
Many residents view the Scientology battle as a clear example of quality of life being trampled in their neighborhoods. The city council has a mandate to use its legal and development offices to fight for residents, said Trisha Thompson, a three-term past president of the North Riverside Homeowners Association.
"I honest to goodness believe this is why we voted to become a city. We don’t want to waste our taxpayer money, but I think the residents expect the city’s resources to be used to protect neighborhoods," Thompson said. "If protecting neighborhoods means legal action, well, so be it."
What is Scientology?
Science fiction author L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology in 1954. Its teachings call for one-on-one counseling, called auditing, to achieve spiritual release. Auditing, which calls for members’ responses to be monitored on a machine similar to a polygraph, can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Controversy has often surrounded those fees as well as Scientology’s beliefs that souls can reincarnate and have been extraterrestrials before living on Earth, and the belief that psychiatry is abusive and should be abolished.
