The Town of Gilbert is in the national spotlight because of the enforcement of land development codes. Within the residential use' code is an innocuous little code known as 'Chapter 1, Article 2.1'.
This now infamous code is within Chapter 1, Article 2.1 of the Land Development Code states: "religious assembly uses are not permitted in single-family residential structures."
The thought behind this code was/is to protect neighborhoods from disruptions such as excessive traffic, parking, noise, pollution, and all the other negative aspects that large groups of people gathering within a neighborhood would inevitably bring.
It would seem that a small 'church meeting' consisting of a handful of people is what started our recent spotlight worthy episode. A single code compliance officer noticed a sign promoting a meeting within a residential neighborhood, and did his job. He sent a cease and desist notice to the home.
Since then, the Alliance Defense fund, an organization 'to aggressively defend religious liberty by empowering our allies', has taken up the cause to shame Gilbert into not enforcing the code. Our town council has been ordered by Mayor John Lewis to do just that.
The next Gilbert Town Council meeting will be on March 23rd, at 6pm. The meeting will take place at 50 E Civic Center Gilbert, AZ 85296, and the phone number is(480) 503-6871. If you cannot attend the meeting, all meetings can be seen via webcast or on cable televiwion channel 11.
If you have an opinion, there is no better way to communicate your point than to attend the meetings, and communicate for yourself.
If you have questions, comments, concerns, compliments, or requests, please feel free to comment below, or email me. For more articles I've written, see my 'raising special needs kids in Gilbert' page. If you would like my articles to find their way to your inbox, please subscribe to my articles (at the top of this page). Thank you!! Have a great day today!!
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