Texas’ appellate court recently issued a decision involving the interplay between religious freedom and governmental police power, a “cowboy church,” and NIMBYism (Not-In-My-Back-Yard). True to its name, Denton County Cowboy Church (the “Church”) began hosting weekly rodeo events in 2009 at its outdoor arena. The arena is on the Cowboy Church’s 7-acre tract of land in the Town of Ponder, Texas. In 2014, the Cowboy Church bought a 12-acre parcel adjoining the 7-acre tract to build a new rodeo. It began constructing the new 61,000 square foot rodeo arena and applied for a commercial building permit. The Town issued the permit in July 2015, and several neighbors complained to the Town to revoke the permit and that construction of the rodeo be halted. In August 2015, the Cowboy Church filed an application for a special use permit to construct a “multi-use event center” on the 12 acres, which would “be used to house among other things, youth ministry, fellowship, and sermons as well as cowboy related rodeo type events, which currently occur and have been occurring for the past several years on [the original tract] in the outdoors, uncovered and uncontained.” According to the Cowboy Church, its new arena would result in less noise, light and dust pollution on nearby property owners than its existing arena.
Continue Reading Yee Haw! Cowboy Church’s Religious Rodeo Clears Some Hurdles
Federal Court Rejects Church’s Religious Land Use Claims Based on Government’s Legitimate Zoning Concerns
A federal court in Nevada has ruled that the denial of a church’s special use permit application to develop property with a house of worship did not violate RLUIPA’s substantial burden provision, the Equal Protection Clause, the Due Process Clause, or state law. Significantly, this case demonstrates the bedrock principle that land use agencies may deny zoning applications for religious use for legitimate zoning concerns. In this case, the land use agency deemed the site in question inappropriate for a house of worship because it was adjacent to a dangerous intersection with existing traffic problems and would be incompatible with the quiet neighborhood.
Continue Reading Federal Court Rejects Church’s Religious Land Use Claims Based on Government’s Legitimate Zoning Concerns
Rabbi Lacks Standing for some RLUIPA Claims, Says Federal Court
A federal court in Maryland has found that a rabbi was without standing to bring claims under RLUIPA’s nondiscrimination and equal terms provisions, since those claims can be brought only by an “assembly” or “institution.” While the court dismissed these claims, identical claims brought by a Jewish congregation – an assembly or institution under RLUIPA – continued.
Continue Reading Rabbi Lacks Standing for some RLUIPA Claims, Says Federal Court
Maryland Federal Court – Church’s Alleged Substantial Burden was Self-Imposed
A federal court in Maryland recently rejected a church’s RLUIPA and related constitutional claims, finding that the religious group’s claimed harm was self-created. The case demonstrates the importance of due diligence efforts in connection with developing property in the context of a religious land use controversy.
The religious group, Jesus Christ is the Answer Ministries,
Pave it! RFRA Unlikely to Protect Sacred Burial Ground
A Federal Magistrate Judge for the United States District Court of Oregon recently issued findings and recommendations in Chief Wilder Slockish, et al. v. U.S. Federal Highway Administration, et al., concluding that federal highway construction work did not impose a substantial burden on plaintiffs’ religious exercise. Plaintiffs, including members of the Confederated Tribes
Religious Land Use Controversy Brewing in Laurel, Maryland: Can a Church Worship in a Coffee Shop?
Redemption Community Church (the “Church”) has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Laurel, Maryland (the “City”), after the City issued a cease and desist order prohibiting the Church from offering religious services at the coffee shop it owns in the City’s community-village zoning district (the “CV Zone”).
According to the complaint, the Church
Church’s RLUIPA Claims Unripe and Moot, Says Federal Court
A federal district court in Illinois has dismissed religious discrimination and related claims alleged by the Church of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ (“Church”) against the City of Markham, Illinois (“City”), in connection with the City’s denial of the Church’s application for a conditional use permit. We previously posted about this case, Church of
City of Bayonne, NJ to Pay $400,000 to Settle Claims Over Mosque Denial
The City of Bayonne, New Jersey has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed this past summer by Bayonne Muslims, asserting that the city discriminated against the Muslim group after denying variances needed to convert an abandoned warehouse to a mosque (read our previous post about the lawsuit here). As part of the settlement, the
CAFO Stinks, but Not a Substantial Burden
Do 1,400 cattle and 17.4 million gallons of cow waste in open-air lagoons, upwind and a half a mile from a religious youth summer camp, impose a substantial burden? As unpleasant as a concentrated animal feed operation (“CAFO”) may be, a neighboring religious organization cannot use RLUIPA as a shield to prevent its operation.
We
Church Alleges Religious Discrimination Over Baltimore County’s Conditions on Approval of Development Plan
Hunt Valley Presbyterian Church (the “Church”) has sued Baltimore County, Maryland and the Board of Appeals of Baltimore County (together, “Baltimore County”), challenging Baltimore County’s conditional approval of the Church’s development plan, which sought to expand an existing house of worship. This is the fourth congregation to bring RLUIPA claims against Baltimore County in the