High Court lets stand decision on S.D. Scouts lease (must rent at fair market value)

SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Supreme Court has decided against hearing a dispute over San Diego’s discounted leasing of city parkland to the Boy Scouts.

The decision lets stand a lower court’s ruling to ban such agreements because they give preference to religious groups.

At issue was a 2003 ruling by U.S. District Judge Napoleon Jones in which he struck down leases for 16 acres in Balboa Park and another half-acre on Fiesta Island that the city granted to the Scouts under a no-bid and, initially, nominal yearly fee. The judge said it violated the state’s constitutional ban on government preference for religious groups.

SNIP

The Scouts have leased land in Balboa Park since 1957 for $1 per year. After the case was filed, the city negotiated a new lease, and the Scouts pay $2,500 in fees per year.