There have been developments in two RLUIPA land use cases. The first is reported by today's Orange County (CA) Register. In Santa Ana, California, a federal district court granted the Quan Am Buddhist Temple of Garden Grove a temporary restraining order to permit it to hold worship services in several suites in an office building that it purchased almost two years ago. Several applications to build a Temple on the site have been rejected. (See prior posting.) Garden Grove’s City Manager says that his main concern has been to preserve valuable office space for the city. The judge’s order prohibits anyone from staying overnight or cooking over an open flame in the office building, and the Temple must bring all its rooms up to code within 30 days. UPDATE: The full decsion in Vietnamese Buddhism Study Temple in America v. City of Garden Grove, which granted a preliminary injunction (not a TRO) is now available at 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81635 (CD CA, Oct. 20, 2006).
Meanwhile, according to today's South Florida Sun-Sentinel, the Hollywood, Florida, neighbors of a Chabad Lubavitch synagogue have appealed a federal district court ruling that precluded them from challenging the settlement of a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by Chabad against the city. (See prior posting.) The neighbors argue that the settlement created a zoning change to which they should have been able to object.
