Business, Financial & Land Use and Zoning law throughout the United States
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Harvard student, Joshua Whitson, profiles the story of Dalton Tomich, PLC client Adhiparasakthi Charitable, Medical, Educational and Cultural Trust (ACMEC) of North America as it struggled with the Township of West Pikeland and the RLUIPA litigation that ensued.
Carlinville Southern Baptist Church (the “Church”) is a Christian congregation located in Carlinville, Illinois (the “City”). The Church is a religious body formed to promote the message of the Christian gospel, instruction and righteous conduct, fellowship of its members and outreach to the community. In accordance with these beliefs, the Church regularly assembles on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings to worship. Since 2000, the Church had experienced steady and substantial growth in membership that made operating at its existing premises impracticable.
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Celebration Church, a Christian Reformed Church located in Muskegon, Michigan finally had a home—or so they thought. The Church, which had opened its doors a few years prior, had worshiped in a high school gym since its inception while growing to several hundred members, necessitating more space.
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Lighthouse Community Church of God (“Lighthouse”), a historic African American church that had been in existence for more than 80 years, was a small but faithful community of believers whose mission was to serve others. Its building, however, had become too small for Lighthouse’s ongoing work and after much deliberation, the congregation opted to seek a larger space. In June 2003, they discovered that the 2-story, 20,000-square-foot Rutland building in Southfield was for sale.
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Salvation Temple Church (the “Church”) is a Christian congregation located in Warren, Michigan. The Church intended to open a new facility at the site of a former banquet facility (the “Property”) in Hazel Park, Michigan (the “City”), which had been vacant since 2002. The Property was located in a business zone that did not permit religious uses. The zone included numerous other permitted uses, however, including: veterinary clinics, restaurants, hair and nail salons, assembly halls, and health clubs. In fact, the City only allowed religious uses to be located in residential zones, which had been completely developed according to the City’s own records.
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Real Life Ministries (“RLM”) is a Christian ministry that had been located and operating in Albion, Michigan, for fifteen years. In 2010, RLM developed plans to purchase a large vacant building that formerly housed an Asian furniture store that was located in rural Parma Township, Michigan (the “Township”). The building was located in the Township’s general Commercial zone, which did not allow religious uses. Recent amendments to the Township’s zoning ordinances rezoned the building to Commercial from Agricultural, which did permit religious uses within its district. Unfortunately, the agricultural areas within the Township were fully developed and thus RLM did not have the option of operating in an agricultural zone.
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On Sunday April 22, 2012, Metro South Church opened the doors of its new worship facility in Taylor, Michigan for corporate worship for the very first time. The Church secured a vacant building, empty for nearly ten years and formally used as a Sports Authority retail store, in 2010. Leadership worked with the City of Taylor to secure special land use and site plan approval to change the use from commercial to religious use. The City refused implying that it wanted a retail use because a religious use would prove to be a loss of taxable property. Yet through a lengthy process, Metro South Church was able to secure the use approval without litigation.
Read more here.
To schedule a consultation, please call us at 248-971-2400 or email us today.
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