Jersey town moves to seize church property with eminent domain, make pickleball courts

An eminent domain battle pitting pickleball against a homeless shelter had a church crying foul over the potential violation of First Amendment rights.

The coastal township of Toms River, New Jersey, delayed a vote last week as locals turned out by the dozens to have their say in a growing debate about the land usage of Christ Episcopal Church. A plan to expand facilities to incorporate a 17-bed homeless shelter has an attorney for the church expecting a legal fight, as the mayor would rather seize the land to build a park.

“It didn’t take long for neighbors to become concerned,” church attorney Harvey York told Fox News Digital.

Facilities on the 10-acre property include the parish house, deacon’s residence, an auditorium, school, and sanctuary, whereas Mayor Daniel Rodrick (R) hopes to create a park with pickleball courts, a skate park, a soccer field, and a playground. As it happens, the land neighbors the Toms River Country Club and its 9-hole golf course.

“Any governmental agency has the right to condemn property for governmental purposes. That’s clear. However, the township has never thought of this as a recreational site,” said York. “For them to say they need recreational land flies in the face of the facts and their master plan.”

“It is clear that this is being done in retaliation for the church making an application for a homeless shelter,” argued the attorney, as the church had originally applied and been approved to expand the facility to care for the homeless in July 2023.

“There are people that are thrilled that the mayor is going to condemn the property,” he argued while citing First Amendment rights and the Federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act to argue against the application of eminent domain. “I don’t know that you’ll find a lawyer who will say, ‘Oh, yeah, they have every right to do this; they’re going to win.’”

In her own statement on the matter, Right Rev. Sally French, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Jersey had said, “As a Christian leader and a resident of New Jersey, I am troubled by the township’s move to block the faithful ministry of Christ Church, and I am saddened that the mayor and township council are prioritizing pickleball courts over responding to hunger and homelessness.”

Rodrick, who was willing to pay for the property at an estimated value of $4 million, likened himself to President Donald Trump amid backlash as he told The New York Times in an interview, “They fill the room and make a jerk out of me in the meeting and, like President Trump, my numbers just keep going up. The people are with me.”

Meanwhile, the turnout at the May 22 zoning board meeting had more than 40 people addressing concerns, leading the council to run out of time, delaying a vote until June 12, the Episcopal News Service reported.

“The truth is there are people in this room who do not believe that homeless people are people at all,” local Christopher Goble had said at the meeting while New Jersey Coalition to End Homelessness Jeffrey Wild expressed, “I would urge you, rather than embark on a multi-year journey [into a legal fight], wasting taxpayer money, that you let the church do what the church is entitled to do.”

York believes “the majority of the community is shocked and dismayed” and agreed that while it was up to the diocese to decide how to move forward, he believed, “they certainly will litigate the issue, and I believe it will be successful.”

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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