Last week, the Justice Department announced a settlement with the city of Walnut, Calif., resolving allegations that the city violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) when it denied the Chung Tai Zen Center of Walnut a permit to construct a Buddhist house of worship on property owned by the Zen Center, thus forcing the Zen Center to move to another facility in Pomona, Calif. The settlement must still be approved by a federal district judge.
The following is excerpted from the press release:
The case arose from the city’s handling and ultimate denial of the Zen Center’s application for a zoning permit to operate a Buddhist house of worship. Under the Walnut code, houses of worship may operate in the area in which the Zen Center wanted to build its facility if granted a conditional use permit. The government’s complaint alleged that, until it denied the Zen Center’s application in January 2008, the city had not rejected any application for a conditional use permit to build, expand or operate a house of worship since at least 1980. The complaint further alleged that the city treated the Zen Center differently than similarly situated religious and non-religious facilities. For example, the complaint alleges that in August 2008, the city approved a conditional use permit for a Catholic church that, when completed, will be larger than the Zen Center’s proposed facility. The complaint also alleges that between 1998 and 2003, the city built a civic center complex two blocks from Zen Center’s former location in Walnut.
The city has agreed, as part of settlement, not to impose differential zoning or building requirements on other houses of worship. The city also agreed that its leaders and managers, and certain city employees, will attend training on the requirements of RLUIPA. In addition, the city will adopt new procedures that clarify its appeals process for houses of worship, and will report periodically to the Justice Department.
The full press release is available at: http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2011/August/11-crt-1004.html
Editor’s Update 9/4/2011:
The following was reported in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Religious Freedom in Focus August 2011 newsletter:
On August 4, a federal court in California entered an Agreed Order resolving the United States’ claims that the City of Walnut, California violated RLUIPA when it denied a permit to a Buddhist worship center. The suit, United States v. City of Walnut, was filed on September 13, 2010, after the City denied the Chung Tai Zen Center of Walnut a permit to build a worship center.
Under the Walnut zoning code, houses of worship may operate in the area where the Zen Center wanted to build if granted a conditional use permit. The United States’ complaint alleged that, until it denied the Zen Center’s application in January 2008, the City had not rejected any application for a conditional use permit to build, expand or operate a house of worship since at least 1980. The complaint also alleged that the city treated the Zen Center differently than various non-religious facilities. The suit claimed violation of RLUIPA’s nondiscrimination provision, violation of its requirement that religious assemblies and institutions be treated at least as well as nonreligious assemblies and institutions, and also claimed that the denial imposed a substantial burden on the Zen Center’s religious exercise. As a result of the city’s actions, the Zen Center was forced to leave Walnut and build another house of worship in a neighboring city.
Under the Court’s Agreed Order, the City may not impose differential zoning or building requirements on places of worship. In addition, the City’s leaders and managers, and certain city employees, must attend training on the requirements of RLUIPA. The city must also adopt new procedures that clarify its appeals process for houses of worship, and will report periodically to the Justice Department. A separate suit filed by the Zen Center against the City will continue.
On January 11, as reported in Volume 45, the Court rejected a motion to dismiss filed by the City alleging that RLUIPA required the Zen Center to exhaust all local administrative remedies before the City could be sued in federal court. The Court held that no such exhaustion requirement exists under RLUIPA, and that the United States would not be bound by any such requirement even if it did exist.
For this issue of DOJ’s Freedom in Focus Newsletter see: http://www.justice.gov/crt/spec_topics/religiousdiscrimination/newsletter/focus_48.html#3
