A Florida church filed an emergency appeal after a judge banned its worship services over a strip mall parking dispute.
Seventh Circuit Judge Sandra Upchurch signed a temporary injunction Jan. 23 barring Coastal Family Church in Flagler Beach from holding public assemblies, threatening a $50,000 fine for violations. The church cancelled its Sunday service. (RELATED: DOJ Opens Civil Rights Probe Into Alex Pretti’s Death)
The injunction stems from a covenant the church allegedly made during property negotiations with the strip mall’s owners, Flagler Square. Under the agreement, the property could not be used as a “place of public assembly” — language meant to preserve parking for other businesses in the mall.
Liberty Counsel, representing the church, called the covenant vague but said the church has stopped holding collective worship, teaching scripture, taking communion or gathering as a congregation on the property. Church leaders stood outside the building Sunday to turn away arriving congregants.
In a video to his congregation, founding pastor Roderick Palmer said they would need to “pivot” from normal services and consider worshipping at home.
“These walls don’t define us. Our gathering on Sunday doesn’t define who we are, but we are a family that would connect whether we’re in this building or we’re outside,” Palmer said.
The order said the temporary injunction “serves the public interest” of other mall owners and tenants, and that “the ongoing injury and harm to [Flagler Square] outweighs any potential harm to [the church].” Despite the church owning the building, the order said it “went into this ownership with eyes wide open” and chose to violate the covenant.
Liberty Counsel countered that no evidence of parking problems exists and that the city had formally approved the church’s zoning exception. The group’s founder, Mat Staver, likened the closure to pandemic-era church shutdowns and argued “every Sunday that the doors of Coastal Family Church remain closed inflicts irreparable spiritual and constitutional injury on its congregation.” (RELATED: Judge Rules Luigi Mangione Will Not Face Death Penalty)
“The U.S. Constitution and Florida laws are clear that Pastor Roderick Palmer and Coastal Family Church have the right to hold church services on church property and that restrictive covenants cannot ban religious assembly,” Staver said. “This injunction must be stayed and reversed.”
The church’s emergency motion asked for relief by Saturday to allow services to resume Sunday.
