Churches Moving To Retail and Commercial Space

In RLUIPA, Congress made it clear that public policy favors permitting churches to relocate to new sites. Yesterday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette carries an interesting article on the problems that some communities and commercial firms anticipate from a growing trend by churches to relocate to strip shopping malls, big box store locations, and corporate campuses. Some churches see these locations as attractive because they are cheaper than building from scratch, and shoppers at nearby stores might be drawn to the church. However many communities are unhappy because churches, as nonprofits, will not pay property tax. Parishoners coming from elsewhere may create traffic problems and increase demand for city services. For nearby retailers, there are concerns about teens from the church roaming the stores, with church members taking up parking spaces, and with the fact that a church may draw less traffic to the retail location than would another store.