April 1989

After the Chanhassen Planning Commission approved Eckankar’s permit in March, they sent it to the City Council for further approval. In the meantime, conversation in Chanhassen devolved into a clash of values. “Some [residents] vehemently oppose allowing what they view as a questionable cult to establish an international flagship in their city. Others say the church, while seemingly permissible by law, amounts to poor land use because its tax-exempt status would remove the valuable parcel from tax rolls."1  Following the Commission vote, a group called Concerned Citizens for Chanhassen gained 2,576 signatures on a petition requesting the city acquire the land, rather than Eckankar.

Leneda Rahe, an organizer of Concerned Citizens for Chanhassen, said at the time that Eckankar "deal[s] in the dark. They deal through lawyers instead of face-to-face. If they’re a church, why can’t they just come forward like a normal church?” In fact, Eckankar did try a more public approach after they bought the Chanhassen plot in 1985 but "public hearings disintegrated into nasty arguments about the group's beliefs, prompting Eckankar to scrap the plan."2

These strong negative feelings resurfaced again in 1989:

"One man told Council Member Jay Johnson that Chanhassen residents were prepared to lynch the first Eckankar member who came to town."6

However, ECKists and their lawyers pushed that there was no legitimate reason to deny the group approval:

“People [in Chanhassen] are afraid of the unknown. Once you get to know us, there’s not a problem…we kind of blend into the community. We don’t stand out for any reason, we just go about our business” —Peter Skelskey, President of Eckankar3

“Even if they were the Moonies, they would still fall under the First Amendment” —Peter Beck, a land-use attorney with Larkin, Hoffman, Daly & Lindgren, the group representing Eckankar4

City Council Member Johnson conducted a self-styled investigation of Eckankar and attended one of its services and found no reason to oppose the permit: 

“If the ECKists live the way their teachings show, they put a lot of us Christians to shame. They could very well be an asset to our community if they live by example” —City Council Member Jay Johnson5

However, in late April, the Chanhassen City Council tabled Eckankar’s request for a conditional use permit to build on the Lake Ann property “pending an environmental study to be done by Eckankar to see if there is any ground-water contamination on the 174-acre site."7 The study was prompted by the discovery of several barrels containing old oil and concrete sealer on the land and questions over the presence of potentially hazardous waste.

  1. Rosalind Bentley, “Chanhassen commission OKs permit for church,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 2, 1989, 3B.E ↩

  1. Paul Klauda, “Economics, religion clash in Chanhassen,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 17, 1989, 1A. ↩

  1. Paul Klauda, “Economics, religion clash in Chanhassen,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 17, 1989, 1A. ↩

  1. Paul Klauda, “Economics, religion clash in Chanhassen,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 17, 1989, 1A. ↩

  1. Paul Klauda, “Economics, religion clash in Chanhassen,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 17, 1989, 1A. ↩

  1. Paul Klauda, “Economics, religion clash in Chanhassen,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 17, 1989, 1A. ↩

  1. Rosalind Bentley, “Chanhassen council tables request for a use permit by religious group,” Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 25, 1989, 3B. ↩