Court Upholds Size Limits For Church Building

In Vision Church v. Village of Long Grove, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23493 (ND Ill., Oct. 7, 2005), an Illinois federal district court rejected Vision Church’s challenge to the denial of its application for a special use permit to allow construction of a church complex on its property. The Church, comprised mainly of America-born Chinese, projected that its membership would grow rapidly. However, the Village’s Public Assembly Ordinance limited the size of the Church’s building to 55,000 square feet, far smaller than the Church’s proposed building. The court rejected Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause, RLUIPA, Equal Protection Clause and other claims raised by the Church, and granted the Village’s motion for summary judgment on all claims.