RIVERSIDE . (AP) — A community group seeking to preserve a towering cross atop Riverside's city-owned Mount Rubidoux has purchased a small parcel around the landmark.

The Press-Enterprise reports) the group Totally Mt. Rubidoux paid $10,500 in Thursday's auction for the parcel.

The City Council voted to sell the land around the cross to avoid a lawsuit on its constitutionality after Americans United for Separation of Church and State last year threatened a lawsuit.

The group asserted that religious symbol on public land is unconstitutional.

The land was once owned by Mission Inn founder Frank Miller and there has been a cross atop the hill since 1907. Miller's family donated the land to the city in 1955 and it became a public park.