Church land use and zoning cases are complex. Relocating a church isn’t just a simple real estate transaction. Religious institutions often encounter discrimination from municipalities and other local governments before or during the land use planning process, including after denial of a zoning variance or conditional use permit, or in another planning commission decision.
The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) protects organizations like yours from such discrimination. Churches, their insurers and other religious institutions across the country have won RLUIPA cases and successfully defending their rights to acquire and occupy new land with the help of the experienced religious land use and zoning attorneys at Dalton & Tomich PLC. Case studies highlighting many of those victories may be found below.
Have you recently purchased a building or land and discovered you can’t use it because it isn’t zoned for religious assembly? Learn how to navigate the process and win the right to use your property.
Download Now
Today we filed suit on behalf of Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church against the City of Lenexa, Kansas, who, has used zoning to deny the Church the ability to use its building to serve the homeless in Johnson County, Kansas. At its heart, this case […]
Read MoreIn the past several months, we have found that the strategic use of the Religious Land Use and institutionalized Persons Act (also known as RLUIPA) can be used to successfully persuade members of a Planning Commission or Zoning Board of Adjustment / Appeals to approve […]
Read MoreToday we had the opportunity to argue the parameters of RLUIPA before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis, Missouri in the case of St. John Vianney High School v. City of Kirkwood, Missouri. In this case, the City of Kirkwood approved the renovation […]
Read MoreOn this day 19 years ago, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, also known as RLUIPA. The law was passed by a unanimous Congress to enforce, by statutory right, four different constitutional prohibitions related to the development […]
Read MoreWhen a government regulation restricts an institution’s religious exercise, the government will often argue that the restricted activity is either not religious or not central to the institution’s religious mission. This issue surfaces in a variety of different cases. It often comes up in Title […]
Read MoreAs reported in the Torrington Register Citizen on August 19, 2019, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the fee award for Dalton & Tomich PLC and the other attorneys who represented the Chabad in Litchfield, Connecticut in the decade long litigation over approving the […]
Read MoreFor more than six years, the City of Markham fought our client, the Church of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, in both state and federal court over the church’s right to continue meeting in its sanctuary at 16018 S. Spaulding Avenue. We asserted the […]
Read MoreI had the opportunity to talk with attorneys in Arizona about Religious Land Use and Zoning at the annual meeting of the Arizona Bar Association and was asked to address the question of why do we need RLUIPA when we have the Free Exercise and […]
Read MoreThe United States Supreme Court recently had the opportunity to address several important questions regarding the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) in Tree of Life Christian Schools v. Upper Arlington, Ohio. However, today the Court unfortunately declined to hear the case. This […]
Read MoreIt was my honor to return to Carlinville, Illinois on Sunday, February 24, 2019 to worship at The Cross Church. A decade ago, we worked with the Church and resolved a case allowing it to develop a former Walmart Store into a Church. The once […]
Read MoreIn my role as Administrative Bishop for the Church of God, quite often we are faced with issues that involve local governments and municipalities. Many of these issues that arise in dealing with entities are land use related. I have found Dalton & Tomich’s experience and expertise in this area to be a valuable resource and asset in every situation.
Never one time during a year-long litigation process did Dalton & Tomich demonstrate anything other than Christ-like professionalism. They managed the legal details, while we continued to do church. How they managed themselves, managed our case, and represented our church set the table for me and our church to be where we are today.
Dalton & Tomich’s expertise and experience helped us through a very difficult legal journey, ultimately achieving a favorable outcome. Their personal interest in helping us went “above and beyond” just the call of duty.