Second Circuit Court of Appeals Holds that First Amendment and RLUIPA Claims Were Unripe due to Failure to Comply with the Final-Decision Requirement

This post was authored by Matthew Loeser, Esq.

Islamic Community Center for Mid Westchester (“ICCMW”) had met with local officials to confirm that it could use the property it intended to purchase as a mosque. Yonkers city officials confirmed that the property was zoned for use either as a residence or a house of worship. Several months after ICCMW closed on the property purchase, the group became aware that Colonial Heights Association of Tax Payers had filed an application to designate the property as a landmark. After that application was granted, ICCMW filed this lawsuit in federal district court challenging the landmark designation on several grounds, including: allegations that the designation violated ICCMW’s First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion; and several claims under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, and also found the case was not ripe because ICCMW had not yet complied with the “final-decision requirement.”

The district court held this case was not ripe because ICCMW failed to apply for the “certificate of appropriateness” that would, if granted, enable them to pursue their construction projects despite the landmark designation. On appeal, the court agreed that ICCMW’s failure to attain a final decision on its application by availing itself of the local procedure that could remedy its alleged harm, barred it from litigating this claim in federal court. Accordingly, the order of the district court was affirmed.

Islamic Community Center for Mid Westchester v City of Yonkers, 2018 WL 3323639 (2nd Cir. NY 7/6/2018)