Middletown, PA settles with Freedom Baptist ChurchNov 30, 1999
U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell today approved and signed a consent
judgment under which the Township of Middletown, Pennsylvania agrees to bring
its zoning ordinances into compliance with the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act of 2000 ("RLUIPA"). The agreement settles a lawsuit brought
by Freedom Baptist Church against the Township last year.
In its defense, Middletown challenged the constitutionality of RLUIPA, but
in a 43 page ruling issued on May 8, 2002, Judge Dalzell upheld the law, holding
that "RLUIPA's land use provisions are constitutional on their face and
as applied to states and municipalities." It was the first time that a
federal court had ruled on the constitutionality of RLUIPA's land use provisions,
and the decision has since been cited as precedent in other cases around the
country. Judge Dalzell had certified the case to the Third U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals, but today's consent judgment concludes the case without further
review and preserves the precedential force of the ruling on RLUIPA's constitutionality.
Under the consent judgment, Middletown agrees to "revise its zoning ordinances
to bring them into compliance with the current United States and Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania Constitutions and laws, including, but not limited to"
RLUIPA. The church will have the "opportunity to provide comments and suggestions
concerning the proposed revisions." Middletown also agrees to pay the church
$10,000 in attorneys' fees and costs.
Under Middletown's zoning ordinance at the time the lawsuit was filed, churches
were not a "permitted" use anywhere in the township, and in zoning
districts where they were allowed, they were subject to onerous requirements,
including a minimum lot size of five acres. Freedom Baptist Church rents space
in the basement of an office building whose principal commercial tenant is a
dentist.
Freedom Baptist Church was represented by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
and by local attorney L. Theodore Hoppe, Jr. Becket Fund Vice President and
General Counsel Anthony Picarello joined with U.S. Department of Justice attorney
James Todd in defending RLUIPA's constitutionality in oral arguments before
Judge Dalzell on April 26, 2002.
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