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A Middlesex County Superior Court judge has dismissed a request to block the town of Acton from awarding Community Preservation Act funds to preservation projects on two historic church buildings.
Acton Town Meeting in April approved $51,237 in CPA funds to preserve stained glass windows and $49,500 to support the preservation master plan at Acton Congregational Church. It also approved $15,000 for roof repairs at South Acton Congregational Church.
In July, the Washington, D.C.-based group Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit on behalf of 13 Acton taxpayers, asserting that the approval of CPA funds for use on churches violates the Anti-Aid Amendment of the Massachusetts Constitution.
That amendment reads in part, “[N]o such appropriation or use of public money … shall be made or authorized for the purpose of founding, maintaining or aiding any church, religious denomination or society.”
Town officials said the awards to the churches fall under the allowable historic preservation criteria for CPA funds.
Middlesex County Superior Court Justice Leila Kern sided with the town, denying a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the town from moving forward with awarding the CPA funds.
In the Sept. 24 ruling, she wrote that the CPA grants were not to aid the churches, but specifically for historic preservation, a legitimate public purpose, and that the awards were made based on that purpose, not because the applicants were churches.
The ruling is subject to appeal.