Court hears church demolition arguments

By Joe Kafka, Associated Press Writer | Wednesday, November 02, 2005

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PIERRE — An old Roman Catholic school listed for three decades on the National Register of Historic Places should not be torn down, a lawyer for a handful of Mitchell residents told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Intertwined in the legal feud is a circuit judge’s ruling that denying demolition of Notre Dame Academy would amount to unreasonable government interference with religion.

When a new school opened in another Catholic parish of the city in 2001, the three-story academy was closed by Holy Family Parish. The school, which was built in 1912 and added onto in 1922 and 1955, was attended by generations of local Catholics.

Betty Heidinger, one of five women who filed the lawsuit, graduated from high school at the academy in 1947. At the time, she said the building also contained a dormitory for girls, living space for nuns and a junior college.

The school is joined in its national listing by the adjacent Holy Family Church and rectory complex.

Heidinger, 76, said her children and grandchildren also went to school at the academy.

“It’s very sad that our city is getting rid of historical buildings,” she said Tuesday. “A lot of people think we’re just a bunch of old, emotional women, but that’s not true. This is a beautiful building. It matches the church perfectly. Without that historical building, it would detract so much from a historical block.”

The legal saga about demolition of the school began in 1995 when a state fire marshal’s inspection noted several costly safety violations. At the time, preschool through second-grade students attended the academy.

A Holy Family task force studied the fire- and building-code problems and recommended demolition of the academy and enlargement of the Holy Spirit School across town.

Holy Family got a demolition permit from the city in 1999 after the Mitchell Historic Preservation Commission decided there was no reasonable alternative and sent that finding to the state historic preservation officer. Those opposed to razing the academy went to court, and then-Circuit Judge Steven Zinter, who is now on the Supreme Court and cannot help decide the appeal, told city officials in 2001 that they must wait for recommendations from the state officer.

In 2003, the officer said there are reasonable alternatives to demolition of the historic building.

But the city again issued a demolition permit when church officials said they wanted the space for parking and better access to Holy Family Church.

Opponents returned to court to stop the school from being torn down, progressing to an appeal with the state Supreme Court after being rebuffed by Circuit Judge Max Gors of Pierre.

Gors said there were no good alternatives to demolition. Deciding the city can issue the demolition permit, Gors also said a 2000 federal law prohibits the city from actions that significantly interfere with religious freedom.

Timothy Bjorkman, attorney for those trying to save the academy, told the Supreme Court in written arguments that the school, church and rectory are “a significant historical enclave.”

Demolition opponents collected 900 signatures in favor of preserving the building, but city officials still issued a permit to destroy it, Bjorkman said.

The building is structurally sound, and renovating it would save Holy Family nearly $1 million over the cost of razing it and constructing new space for church uses, Bjorkman said.

A state law protecting historical sites does not allow demolition of the school unless no reasonable alternatives exist, Bjorkman argued.

John Cogley, attorney for Holy Family, wrote that religious freedom would be burdened if the parish cannot demolish the academy. The church cannot afford to renovate the building, and the space is needed for other church purposes, he said.

It would cost $1.7 million to renovate the original 1912 building and demolish the 1922 and 1955 additions, he said. The cost to renovate the entire building would be $2.9 million, Cogley added.