Franklin Park zoning laws violate federal religious land use lawMay 9, 2002 Franklin Park (Illinois) zoning laws that completely exclude places of worship
in commercial districts while permitting such other assembly uses as meeting
halls, clubs and lodges, banquet halls and theaters are illegal and unconstitutional,
a complaint filed today in U.S. District Court (PDF format, 115K) in Chicago
charges. The lawsuit was filed by Calvary Chapel O'Hare, a non-denominational
church that has been forbidden from converting and using a bowling alley located
in the C-3 zoning district of Franklin Park. Calvary Chapel O'Hare is represented
by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public interest law firm based in
Washington, D.C., and local attorney Timothy P. Dwyer.
Calvary Chapel, which currently occupies cramped, inadequate space in a former
real estate office on Franklin Avenue, began discussions last fall with the
owner of a bowling alley on Grand Avenue regarding a potential purchase of the
property. The Grand Bowl property offers some 19,000 square feet of space (compared
with the church's present quarters of only 2500 square feet), and is the only
such space available in Franklin Park. It has been rented out many times for
such gatherings as weddings, baptisms, graduation and birthday parties and banquets.
In late March, Calvary Chapel was informed that a church could not use the
building, since the village zoning law does not permit places of worship even
as a conditional use in the C-3 district. At a closed session of the Franklin
Park Village Council on April 1, 2002, council members decided not to allow
Calvary Chapel to use the bowling alley.
The complaint filed today charges that the Franklin Park zoning law violates
the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 ("RLUIPA"),
which prohibits local zoning laws from treating churches on less than equal
terms than nonreligious assembly uses or institutions, and a number of other
provisions of the law as well.
The Becket Fund won the first case decided under RLUIPA in December, 2000,
and has since successfully represented churches in similar cases throughout
the United States. It successfully defended the constitutionality of RLUIPA
in a case decided yesterday by a U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.
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