City zoning cannot discriminate against churches

It seems that local governments increasingly think they can prevent ministries from locating downtown by using zoning restrictions to keep them out.

Why? Tax-hungry city governments prefer property owners who generate commercial tax revenue. Ministries are exempt from property taxes making them prime targets of discrimination by city governments.

This appears to be the case in an unfolding controversy in Joplin as a Christian homeless shelter attempts to improve its services from a downtown facility.

First Baptist Church is attempting to sell its 100-year-old sanctuary downtown. It thought it had a deal to sell the property back in May for $600,000 to Dan Anderson, pastor of City of Refuge, a homeless shelter. When the pending sale to City of Refuge became public, a group of downtown residents and business owners started a petition drive, citing concerns about public safety and a potential threat to “economic-revitalization” efforts downtown. It should be noted that First Baptist did not share that view, voting 132-18 in favor of the sale. Ultimately, the deal fell through when Anderson could not raise the necessary funds to make the purchase. But there is more to the story.

The reason Anderson wanted to buy the First Baptist property is because the city refused to grant his request to rezone the ministry’s current leased property on another downtown street from heavy industrial to commercial so that it could provide sleeping quarters in addition to providing food and church services. The city denied the request after officials said the building was not up to code and was deemed unsafe. The zoning ruling against City of Refuge does not prohibit it from continuing to supply food and hold church services. As a result, City of Refuge continues to meet in a former cold-storage warehouse and cannot provide sleeping services to the homeless.

Joplin city officials are walking on thin ice legally. Perhaps they should consider what happened recently between a Southern Baptist church and city officials in Carlinville, Ill., a town of about 6,000 people an hour northeast of St. Louis.

In August 2005, Carlinville Southern Baptist Church entered into a contract to acquire a former Wal-Mart building and met resistance from city officials over its use of the building. The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), an alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith, filed a lawsuit in behalf of the church against the city. They alleged that the city’s attempt to block the church’s purchase, renovation and use of the structure violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that protects churches from discrimination in land use disputes with local governments.

At least three times this past summer, the city proposed terms of agreement to the church, only to add more restrictive zoning terms in an apparent attempt to drive the church and its pastor into insolvency and out of town. After the church publicly rebuked the mayor for the impasse, the city backed off its restrictions against the church which is now moving forward on its purchase and renovation of the former Wal-Mart.

“Churches should not be discriminated against in city zoning decisions,” warned ADF-allied attorney Daniel P. Dalton. “We are pleased that the city has finally realized that it has no legal recourse to keep Carlinville Southern Baptist Church from using the property it has legitimately acquired for religious purposes.”

ADF Senior Counsel Joe Infranco added this: “It’s simply wrong for a city to keep a church from using property because officials would rather see it used to generate commercial tax revenue. And forcing a church to endure bureaucratic nightmares over the matter is even worse. We’re pleased that this settlement clears the way for the church to begin preparing the property for worship services.”