Opinion ID: 2074724
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Activity Qualification

Text: [¶ 30] Turning to the activity criteria we have established, we have held that an organization like CFRC, with stated religious and charitable purposes, qualifies for exemption, Salvation Army, 1998 ME 75, ¶ 5, 709 A.2d at 729, and that limiting benefits to persons or groups with a religious affiliation, as CFRC does, will not preclude qualification for exemption, id.; 36 M.R.S. § 652(1)(A). We have also held that activities that qualify as charitable do not lose their charitable nature if conducted to serve a religious purpose. Salvation Army, 1998 ME 75, ¶ 5, 709 A.2d at 729; Episcopal Camp, 666 A.2d at 108-09; Green Acre, 150 Me. at 353-54, 110 A.2d at 583-84. [¶ 31] Addressing intensity of use, we have held that recreation and relaxation activitieseven very minimal activities may qualify as charitable activities supporting a charitable exemption. Cushing Nature & Pres. Ctr., 2001 ME 149, ¶¶ 5-6, 16-19, 785 A.2d at 344-47. For exemption qualification purposes, the fact of a charitable use, not its intensity, is what qualifies for the exemption. Green Acre, 150 Me. at 353, 110 A.2d at 583. A charitable use may qualify a property for exemption, even if the property has little human use for recreation or relaxation. Cushing Nature & Pres. Ctr., 2001 ME 149, ¶ 15, 785 A.2d at 346-47. [¶ 32] Even if some intensity of use is a prerequisite for a charitable exemption, CFRC has presented sufficient evidence of such uses in this case. Thus, joint stipulation 12 states: Some groups that used CFRC's main center building also used the rest of its land. In the warmer months, these groups would use the beach, play ball on the ball field, and hike and camp all around the grounds. During the winter months the groups would ice skate on the pond, and cross country ski and snowmobile throughout the grounds. In 1996, CFRC's 88 acres of land were used for no other purpose, other than by these groups. [¶ 33] This stipulated evidence of year-round use of the eighty-eight acres by the twenty-five or so groups and churches using the property demonstrates a use far more intense than the uses deemed to qualify for exemption in Cushing Nature & Preservation Center, 2001 ME 149, ¶¶ 5-6, 785 A.2d at 344-45; or Green Acre, 150 Me. at 352-54, 110 A.2d at 583-84, and over more seasons than the use deemed to qualify for exemption in Episcopal Camp, 666 A.2d at 109, or Green Acre, 150 Me. at 352, 110 A.2d at 583. Thus, there is more than sufficient evidence in the record of uses of the property in support of its charitable purposes. [¶ 34] Continuing the discussion of the activity related criteria that we have established to qualify for a charitable exemption, we have indicated that the statutory restriction to uses solely for their own purposes allows incidental, non-charitable uses and living arrangements by staff members and others, without forfeiting the charitable exemption, as long as the dominant use is for the charitable purpose. Salvation Army, 1998 ME 75, ¶¶ 6-7, 709 A.2d at 729; Poland Spring Health Inst., 649 A.2d at 1099-1100. The use by staff and volunteers at issue here is less significant than indicated in Poland Spring Health Institute, and is certainly incidental to and supportive of CFRC's dominant purpose. Further, we have held that even incidental, income producing, non-charitable uses, like the occasional family events on CFRC's property, do not foreclose qualification for a charitable exemption. Episcopal Camp, 666 A.2d at 109. [¶ 35] Finally, and most significant for this case, we have held that any offset of government services is a factor to be considered, but not a mandatory prerequisite, in determining qualification for the charitable exemption. See id. at 110. In the decisions below, both the Superior Court and the County Commissioners denied CFRC's exemption application by placing significant focus on conclusions that CFRC's activities, because they are religious in nature, could not fulfill a purported quid pro quo requirement that the organization provide a benefit or setoff for services that the government would otherwise provide. [¶ 36] The quid pro quo analysis undertaken by the County Commissioners and the court below is flawed. It suggests that, since government cannot engage in religious activities, no religiously-affiliated recreational activities can offset government services to qualify for the charitable exemption. That view is contrary to our precedents that have approved charitable exemptions for religiously-affiliated recreational activities. As in Salvation Army, Episcopal Camp, and Green Acre, recreational uses serving a religious purpose can qualify for the charitable exemption. To suggest otherwise risks approving disparate treatment for religiously-affiliated charitable activities compared to other charitable activities. [¶ 37] To the extent that the quid pro quo analysis used by the County Commissioners and the Superior Court suggests that casual and limited group recreational and relaxation activities do not replace or setoff any governmental service, that view is also incorrect. CFRC does provide recreational services that government would or should otherwise provide. To use the Superior Court's words, CFRC provides its benefits: by providing something that government would otherwise provide, through the government system of parks, public lands, and recreational facilities. [¶ 38] The County Commissioners' decision is also flawed in suggesting that religious purposes or activities cannot be solely benevolent and charitable to qualify for exemption and in suggesting that incidental, non-charitable activities on the property by staff members or overseers of the property disqualify the property from receiving the charitable exemption. Our past opinions, discussed above, hold that such a narrow interpretation of solely is incorrect as a matter of law.