What began as an effort to protect single-family home neighborhoods became a religious freedom violation when the city of Wayzata refused a building permit to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka. After a lawsuit under RLUIPA, and subsequent federal mediation, a settlement last week will allow the church building to go forward, and cost the city $500,000 in damages and attorney's fees.
The Wayzata dispute began in 2008, when Unitarian congregants decided they had outgrown their small church and asked city officials to rezone the three-acre residential property of a member so they could build there. The city turned them down.
The city argued that it should have the right to control planning and zoning through its long-established comprehensive planning process.
Wayzata has 22 zoning districts. Churches are allowed only in one that's designed for institutions, including schools and government buildings.
When will local government get the message about the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act?
