Georgia Church Wins Partial RLUIPA Victory

In a case decided several months ago, but which has just become available, a Georgia federal district court upheld a claim by a church that a 2004 amendment to Marietta, Georgia's zoning ordinance violates the "equal terms provision" of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. In Covenant Christian Ministries, Inc. v. City of Marietta, Georgia, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54304 (ND GA, March 31, 2008), the court concluded that removing religious uses as permitted uses in residential districts, however, had not been shown to substantially burden plaintiffs' free exercise of religion, nor did it violate the nondiscrimination provisions of RLUIPA. (See prior related posting.)