RLUIPA Challenge To Zoning Denial For Counselling Center Fails

In Calvary Temple Assembly of God v. City of Marinette, Wisconsin, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55500 (ED WI, July 21, 2008), a Wisconsin federal district court rejected a RLUIPA challenge brought by a church that wanted a special exemption to locate a professional counselling center on land next to its church building. The City of Marinette concluded that the proposed faith-based counselling center would be a "professional office," a use not permitted in areas zoned residential. The court held that it need not decide whether the counselling center would be a "religious exercise" under RLUIPA because, even if it was, the church failed to show that the zoning denial imposed a "substantial burden" on its religious exercise.