RLUIPA.org
Refuge Temple Ministries wins decisive settlement in Atlanta suburb
Refuge Temple Ministries, a small church that sued the City of Forest Park, Georgia after being barred from the city's central commercial district, this week won a complete victory in the case.
In a Consent Order (PDF format, 155K) approved by U.S. District Court Judge Marvin H. Shoob, Forest Park officials conceded that "The establishment of a place of worship operated by the Plaintiff, Refuge Temple Ministries, shall be a permitted use within Forest Park's C-2 District," and stipulated that "To the extent that City of Forest Park Ordinance No. 00-12 (repealed) could be construed as having imposed requirements on places of worship that are not imposed on other non-religious assembly land uses, the Defendants acknowledge that the Ordinance would not have survived review under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act."
Founded in 1997, members of the church spent several years meeting in the pastor's home and various other locations before negotiating a lease on space in a building at 770 Main Street in Forest Park. On August 11, 2000, they obtained a Zoning Verification from city officials and then signed the lease and prepared to occupy the property. They spent some $14,000 on a first-and-last-month rent deposit, renovations, and utilities. Barely two weeks later, city officials notified Pastor Harry Simon that they had approved the zoning application in error, having been unaware that the City Council had adopted a new zoning ordinance just four days earlier.
Where the old law permitted churches in the C-2 district as of right, the new ordinance required churches to get a Special Land Use Permit, although other similar uses (private clubs, lodges, theaters, auditoriums and other places of assembly) did not need such a permit. The church immediately applied for a permit, but the city turned it down without explanation. Refuge Temple Ministries filed suit against the city on April 12, 2001, and the city council repealed the ordinance on June 4. By then, the church had moved into space outside the city.
City Manager Bill Werner also sent a letter to the church's pastor (PDF format, 39K), Rev. Harry Simon, stating that the city "regrets Refuge Temple Ministries' inability to locate its ministry within Forest Park," and went on to "extend an invitation to you and your church to locate within Forest Park some time in the future."
The church was represented in the lawsuit by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and by local counsel H. Eric Hilton, of the Atlanta-based law firm of Stokes & Murphy. Copies of the letter and court documents, and other information about the case, can be found at www.becketfund.org.