The Academy of Our Lady of Peace (Academy) is an all-girls, Catholic private secondary school established in 1882 and has been located in the North Park area of San Diego since 1925. The Sisters of St. Joseph Carondelet sponsor and administer the Academy.

The Academy has done no building since 1965 and there is no possibility for adaptive reuse of existing structures. Thus, in 2007 the Academy sought to implement a modernization plan to renovate and construct new facilities and related amenities to allow it to remain competitive among the region’s schools. Under the modernization plan, the Academy would construct state-of-the-art science laboratories, a new library and media center, additional classroom space, and off-street parking. The modernization plan would require the demolition of three houses, two of which the City characterized as “locally significant based on their architectural features.” The proposed demolition became the rallying point for those opposed to the plan.

In May of 2007, the Academy submitted its plan to the City’s Planning Commission for review and approval. During the Commission’s year-long review of the proposal, the Academy repeatedly met with North Park residents in hopes of working with the community. In 2008, the Commission and the City’s Development Services Department approved the Academy’s plan. The City Council, however, rescinded its approval on the ground that the preservation of the three homes that would be demolished outweighed the Academy’s need to modernize its educational facilities.

In 2009, the Academy brought a federal lawsuit against the City, alleging a violation of RLUIPA, as well as violations of federal and state constitutional rights. After a two-week trial, the jury returned a unanimous verdict that the City Council’s denial substantially burdened the Academy’s religious exercise, which was not justified by a compelling governmental interest fulfilled through the least restrictive means possible. The jury awarded the Academy more than $1.1 million in damages, based on the increased cost of construction for its plan from the time it was denied by City Council. This is believed to be the largest verdict ever awarded under RLUIPA.

The City threatened to appeal the verdict, but the two sides reached a settlement agreement to put an end to the five-plus year dispute. As part of the agreement, the City has agreed to pay the Academy a $500,000 cash settlement, as well as paying to relocate two homes and demolish a third by May 2014 to allow the Academy to proceed with its modernization plan. In addition, the settlement includes provisions to fast-track all permits for completion and limits the total cost of such permits and inspections to $100,000.

Daniel Dalton, the attorney representing the Academy, stated of the settlement: “Kudos to the city for working with us and [the Academy] to establish a settlement that works well for both sides, giving the Academy what it needs to move forward to continue educating the young women of San Diego.”

Follow the links below to read more about this case:

http://lawoftheland.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/in-san-diego-case-federal-jury-issues-largest-amount-of-rluipa-damages-to-date/

http://www.daltontomich.com/blog/city_of_san_diego_settles_rluipa_lawsuit_with_academy_of_our_lady_of_peace

http://www.amerisurv.com/PDF/TheAmericanSurveyor_Lathrop-ZoningTakingSides_Vol10No2.pdf

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Photo of Evan Seeman Evan Seeman

Evan J. Seeman is a lawyer in Robinson+Cole’s Hartford office and focuses his practice on land use, real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, representing local governments, developers and advocacy groups. He has spoken and written about RLUIPA, and was a lead author of…

Evan J. Seeman is a lawyer in Robinson+Cole’s Hartford office and focuses his practice on land use, real estate, environmental, and regulatory matters, representing local governments, developers and advocacy groups. He has spoken and written about RLUIPA, and was a lead author of an amicus curiae brief at the petition stage before the United States Supreme Court in a RLUIPA case entitled City of San Leandro v. International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.

Evan serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the APA’s Planning & Law Division. He also serves as the Chair of the Planning & Zoning Section of the Connecticut Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Section, and is the former Co-Chair of its Municipal Law Section. He has been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list as a Rising Star in the area of Land Use Law for 2013 and 2014. He received his B.A. in political science and Russian studies (with honors) from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, where he was selected as the President’s Fellow in the Department of Modern Languages and Literature. Evan received his Juris Doctor at the University of Connecticut School of Law, where he served on the Connecticut Law Review. While in law school, he interned with the Connecticut Office of the Attorney General in the environmental department, and served as a judicial intern for the judges of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Court. Following law school, Evan clerked for the Honorable F. Herbert Gruendel of the Connecticut Appellate Court.

Photo of Dwight Merriam Dwight Merriam

Dwight H. Merriam founded Robinson+Cole’s Land Use Group in 1978. He represents land owners, developers, governments and individuals in land use matters, with a focus on defending governments in RLUIPA cases. Dwight is a Fellow and Past President of the American Institute of…

Dwight H. Merriam founded Robinson+Cole’s Land Use Group in 1978. He represents land owners, developers, governments and individuals in land use matters, with a focus on defending governments in RLUIPA cases. Dwight is a Fellow and Past President of the American Institute of Certified Planners, a former Director of the American Planning Association (APA), a former chair of APA’s Planning and Law Division, Immediate Past Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of State and Local Government Law, Chair of the Institute of Local Government Studies at the Center for American and International Law, a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a member of the Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute National Advisory Board, a Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation, a Counselor of Real Estate, a member of the Anglo-American Real Property Institute, and a Fellow of the American College of Real Estate Lawyers.

He teaches land use law at the University of Connecticut School of Law and at Vermont Law School and has published over 200 articles and eight books, including Inclusionary Zoning Moves Downtown, The Takings Issue, The Complete Guide to Zoning, and Eminent Domain Use and Abuse: Kelo in Context. He is the senior co-author of the leading casebook on land use law, Planning and Control of Land Development (Eighth Edition). Dwight has written and spoken widely on how to avoid RLUIPA claims and how to successfully defend against them in court. He is currently writing a book on the subject, RLUIPA DEFENSE, for the American Bar Association.

Dwight has been named to the Connecticut Super Lawyers® list in the area of Land Use Law since 2006, is one of the Top 50 Connecticut Super Lawyers in Connecticut, and is one of the Top 100 New England Super Lawyers (Super Lawyers is a registered trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc.). He received his B.A. (cum laude) from the University of Massachusetts, his Masters of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina, where he was the graduation speaker in 2011, and his J.D. from Yale. He is a featured speaker at many land use seminars, and presents monthly audio land use seminars for the International Municipal Lawyers Association. Dwight has been cited in the national press from The New York Times to People magazine and has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show, MSNBC and public television.

Dwight also had a career in the Navy, serving for three tours in Vietnam aboard ship, then returning to be the Senior Advisor of the Naval ROTC Unit at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill where he taught Defense Administration and Military Management as an Assistant Professor in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum in Defense Administration and Military Management. He left active duty after seven years to attend law school, but continued on for 24 more years as a reserve Surface Warfare Officer with two major commands, including that of the reserve commanding officer of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. He retired as a Captain in 2009 after 31 years of service.