Justice Department Files Statement of Interest in Support of North Carolina Church in Land Use Case

The Justice Department filed a statement of interest Friday in support of a Christian Church in North Carolina alleging violations of federal law by the Chatham County Board of Commissioners.

The Civil Rights Division filed the statement in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina supporting a claim by a Christian church under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The Church alleges the County unlawfully denied an application to rezone several parcels of land to allow the church to build a new place of worship.

“RLUIPA protects the rights of religious groups to exercise their faith free from the precise type of undue government interference exhibited here,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to defending religious liberties as our founders intended and as federal law requires.”

Summit Church-Homestand Heights Baptist Church worshipped at East Chapel Hill High School for several years but has grown and now needs additional space to meet the religious needs of its congregation. In its complaint, Summit Church claims that the denial of its rezoning applications by the Board treated the Church on less than equal terms to nonreligious assemblies and imposed an unjustified substantial burden on its religious exercise.

Summit Church filed a motion for preliminary injunction, seeking an order requiring the County to approve the church’s rezoning request and associated site plan. The County moved to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the zoning decision is a “legislative act” under state law and is therefore not controlled by RLUIPA. The department’s statement of interest supports the church’s claim that RLUIPA protects against the County’s discriminatory zoning decision.

RLUIPA is a federal law that guards individuals and religious institutions from unduly burdensome, unequal, or discriminatory land use regulations. More information about RLUIPA and the department’s work can be found on the Place to Worship Initiative’s webpage.

As part of this initiative, the department distributed a letter to state, county, and municipal leaders throughout the country to remind them of their obligations under RLUIPA, including its requirement that land use regulations treat religious assemblies and institutions at least as well as nonreligious assemblies and institutions.

Individuals who believe they have been subjected to discrimination in land use or zoning decisions may contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Division’s Civil Rights Section at (718) 254-7000 or the Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at (833) 591-0291 or may submit a complaint through the RLUIPA complaint portal. More information about RLUIPA, including questions and answers about the law and other documents, may be found at www.justice.gov/crt/about/hce/rluipaexplain.php.