Court says RLUIPA Applies To Zoning Limits On 12-Step Program

Friday's Prescott (AZ) Daily Courier reports on an unusual RLUIPA decision by an Arizona Superior Court judge in Yavapai County. The case involves attempts by an AA 12-step program, known as Safe Harbor, to operate out of a neighborhood location in north Prescott. The city claimed that AA needed a special use permit to operate. In rejecting that claim, the court, noting AA's spiritual nature, applied the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. It held that "the city's effort to 'zone' the AA members of Safe Harbor out of the property is a land-use regulation which imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of the AA members of Safe Harbor and of AA..."