HANOVER — A nearly decade-long effort by a Greensboro Road couple to block the construction of a church next to their home continues, following a ruling last month that allows their legal challenge to the constitutionality of a land use law to continue.

The state statute in question bars municipalities from prohibiting the construction of buildings for religious purposes through zoning ordinances and planning regulations.

Greensboro Road resident Lara Acker brought the lawsuit against the town of Hanover and Hanover’s Planning Board last September, in hopes of preventing the construction of a roughly 24,000-square-foot, two-story church proposed by Christ Redeemer Church.

“Our position has always been that a building of that size and that intensity of use is not appropriate in a residential neighborhood,” Jeff Acker, Lara’s husband, said in a phone interview.

On Jan. 31, New Hampshire Hillsborough North Su perior Court’s Land Use Docket issued an order on a summary judgment motion to dismiss most of Acker’s claims, but kept one, based on the 2022 law.

“We’re pleased that the judge, at least at this preliminary s tep, has agreed with us that there are some serious constitutional issues that need to be addressed,” Jeff Acker said.

Then-state Rep. Kurt Wuelper, R-Strafford, N.H., sponsored the bill that eventually became NH RSA 674:76 after some of his constituents told him they were “having problems with local land use officials about the number of people they could have in their house for a prayer meeting,” according to the minutes of the bill’s hearing in the Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee meeting on March 21, 2022.

That month, Chris Audino, CRC’s executive pastor, testified in support of the bill. In his testimony, Audino described CRC’s long struggle — ongoing since 2007 — to find a location to build a church in Hanover, according to the minutes.

CRC has approximately 300 members who currently congregate in Hanover High School on Sundays and Wednesdays, but have no permanent location to call their own.

“We all look forward to the day when the church’s home will finally be built on the church’s property on Greensboro Road in Hanover,” Audino wrote in an email to the Valley News.

CRC bought the land on Greensboro Road in 2017.

In December 2018, the Hanover Zoning Board denied a request for a special exception to build a church.

The church appealed the decision and in April 2019, the board granted CRC a special exception under a few conditions including the church would have an occupancy of 300 people instead of 415, it could not operate as early in the morning as it had proposed to, and it would keep it windows closed to cut down on noise. CRC appealed these conditions to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which ruled in CRC’s favor in April 2023.

In July 2022, then-Gov. Chris Sununu signed the Republican-sponsored RSA 674:76 into law. It states “no zoning ordinance or site plan review regulation shall prohibit, regulate or restrict the use of land or structures primarily used for religious purposes.”

The only exceptions are for building height, yard sizes, lot area, setbacks, open space and building coverage.

The Hanover Planning Board issued its approval of Christ Redeemer’s site plan in December 2023 with a disclaimer that the board’s decision was “based solely on RSA 674:76” and not because the site plan met or addressed the town’s review criteria.

In the appeal to the Planning Board’s decision filed in September, the Ackers’ attorney, Timothy Sullivan from Concord-based Upton and Hatfield LLP, argued RSA 674:76 violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from making any laws which favor religion over non-religion and vice versa.

Sullivan also claimed that since the law gives religious institutions privileges not awarded to non-religious entities, it also violates the Equal Protection Clause, meant to ensure every citizen is granted the same legal protections. Therefore, Sullivan argued the Hanover Planning Board acted “unlawfully and unreasonably” when it granted approval to CRC’s site application.

Last month’s ruling upheld part of the Ackers’ Equal Protection claim but dismissed the rest of them.

“Were CRC’s property intended for non-religious purposes, the actions of the Planning Board and senior planner imply that there would be a full site plan review and, thus, Acker would be afforded the opportunity to fully challenge CRC’s proposed use as an abutter,” states the order signed by Associate Justice Michael Klass.

CRC could begin construction before the Ackers’ challenges to the Planning Board’s site plan review approval are resolved, but it would be doing so at its own risk, Hanover planner Bruce Simpson said.

Audino, in his email, said the church was “pleased” by the judge’s dismissal of most of the claims, which he called “frivolous.”

Jeff Acker said the couple plans to continue to pursue legal action against the project.

“We’re going to continue to do whatever we can to preserve a really valuable neighborhood,” Jeff Acker said.

Acker declined to say how much the couple has spent in legal fees since the beginning of this saga in 2017, but said it’s “a lot.”

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.

CLARIFICATION: Christ Re  de emer Church could build a roughly 24,000-square-foot, two-story church on Greensboro Road while an appeal of its site plan is pending, but it would be doing so at its own risk, Hanover town planner Bruce Simpson said. A previous version of this story was unclear about whether the church had the right to proceed.