State Court Says RLUIPA Permits Church To Build

Today's Aspen (CO) Daily News reports that a state trial court judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a group known as the Emma Caucus challenging a decision by Pitkin County, Colorado commissioners to permit construction of a large church complex by Grace Church of the Roaring Fork Valley. The court held that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act supersedes provisions of the county's land-use code. The judge said that the county's out-of-court settlement with Grace Church earlier this summer was an "implicit admission" that the county was in violation of RLUIPA in attempting to prevent construction. In that settlement, the county agreed to pay damages and legal costs in exchange for Grace Church agreeing not to develop their land further over the next ten years. (See prior related posting.)