vienna church says fairfax county sign rules violate first amendment - outdoor scrolling led sign

Update: ferfax County says that if the Good Shepherd Church wants to post the Ten Commandments on the sign of Hunter Mill Road, it will revisit the rules of the signs that triggered the church proceedings, it will take five days to broadcast them all.
This is because ferfax county has its own precepts: you must not change the electronic logo more than twice a day.
So, one day last month, after three messages were released by the United Methodist Church in Vienna --
Provide shelter away from the heat, then promote its website and finally list the time for the group prayer meeting
A zoning inspector called it a sin and attacked the church with a warning letter: "It is worth noting that the screen changed more than twice in 20 minutesfour (24)
The letter said: "one hour.
"This changeable LED logo is considered a prohibited logo.
"The county offers two options: permanently limit the logo to two message changes every day, or delete it completely.
At a meeting at the end of July, about two months after the church installed the sign, the county and the congregation were unable to agree on a compromise.
Therefore, the church held that the First Amendment also applied to the word of God, which was sued last week in the federal court in Alexandria, saying the two amendments
Information restrictions violate the right of the church to exercise freedom of expression and religious freedom.
According to the lawsuit, the county's decree violates 2000 of the law, the Religious Land Use and institution Personnel Act, which prohibits zoning rules that cause unnecessary burden on religious institutions.
"According to the county's restrictive policy, the church has to pick which functions can be displayed on its logo on a daily basis," the lawsuit said . ".
"This influence is a huge burden on the religious activities of the church.
County officials declined to comment, as did their policy when the lawsuit was pending.
Several members of the Board of Supervisors in ferfax County said they did not know the two members --
Message limit, they didn't want to discuss it until they learned more about it.
"It doesn't make much sense to me," Pat S, the supervisor. Herrity (R-Springfield)said.
Neighbors, even those who say they don't like the sign, say that worrying about the amount of information on the church sign seems to be a waste of government time and resources.
"It's a very small fish in the plan of things," says Steve Hull . ".
The key to the problem is a zoning regulation that prohibits the use of electronic signs for flash or moving text.
But what is mobile?
The county defines it as changing the logo information more than twice within 24 hours.
"It's too strict," Church board member Shirley spenelli said this week . ".
"It makes no sense.
"She noted that the church had obtained the appropriate county permit to erect a $37,000 mark, but she said that it did not know the information limit until the county's letter arrived.
In addition to the litigation, the county spokesman said that the staff could not discuss the regulation either, including cases of its purpose, history or past implementation of the regulation.
Michael York, counsel for the church, said the restriction was applied arbitrarily.
For example, an electronic sign showing time or weather information is tax free.
Although the county has provided the church with cases of past enforcement of the rule, spenelli said that in recent weeks, when the electronic signs were closely watched, she saw several people who did not meet the requirements without time or weather information.
She and the rest of the church thought their logo was picked out because of complaints from the county.
They suspected that it might be the same person who called anonymously a few weeks after the sign was installed, angrily asking when the church got the "Las Vegas sign ".
The logo is not gorgeous.
It is located on the edge of the church parking lot, a few feet from the ground, facing the street.
The electronic part is about 2 feet high and 6 feet wide.
Its green letters are sometimes hard to read on a black background.
Spenelli noted that the day investigators in the county observed the sign, just after the derecho storm in June 29, a violation of information invited neighbors without electricity into the air --
A conditional Church
On Monday, the message for the sign is, "pray at nine o'clock A. M. , school at ten o'clock A. M. , Sunday.
The next day it wrote, "pray in the morning, at 6: 30 a. m. on Wednesday.
"The information quoted by the church is also ancient.
"Welcome, come in and beat the heat," wrote the first article . ".
"Visit us at GoodShepherd.
Com, "read the second.
The third ad is the prayer group meeting: "practice being present on Thursday. , July 5, 1 pm.
"The new logo is more notable than the old one --
Its font must be changed manually
Enough to make a splash on the wooded, winding Hunter Mill Road. The two-
Before the Civil War, Lane Avenue was officially designated as a scenic passage for Virginia.
More than one civic group is committed to protecting it.
Members of the Hunter Valley Association and Hunter's Mill Defense Coalition said the groups considered the church a good neighbor and had no plans to try to remove the sign, but they also admitted that they were not particularly fond of it either.
"It has a commercial look," said Hull of the defense union . ".
If there is an opportunity to get involved, the organization will advocate signs of a lower profile, he said.
"The main concern we have is that we don't see the proliferation of these signs," said Bill Kramer, another member . ".
Both groups indicate that they do not care about the number of different messages displayed in the day.
Spienelli said it was not their intention that church leaders had never thought that the sign would cause problems.
On the contrary, it is the opposite.
"We want to be good neighbors," she said . "
"This is all about the information.
The church does not want to use flashing or scrolling text or change the logo multiple times a day, she said.
But in some cases, she says, more than two pieces of information may make sense.
For example, for example, the logo promotes the Boy Scout meeting in the morning and the service for the next day in the afternoon.
What if a neighbor's child was kidnapped later in the day, or if a big storm hit?
If it follows the rules, the church will not be able to post urgent information for the community.
"We just want to be free to release the information that we think is appropriate," spenelli said . ".