Court Says Statute Protects Church Property Sought For Use As Sidewalk

In City of Jordan v. Church of St. John the Baptist of Jordan, (MN Ct. App., April 14, 2009), a Minnesota Court of Appeals interpreted a Minnesota statute that protects churches from certain takings by eminent domain. Minn. Stat. § 315.42 prohibits state and local governments from taking land of any religious corporation by eminent domain for use as streets or roads unless the religious organization's board of trustees approves. The court held that this prohibition also applies to taking of church land to use for sidewalks or for traffic signals. Reporting on the decision yesterday, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says that the case "carried huge symbolic weight for many in Jordan worried that Scott County's hypergrowth was ripping into the fabric of a historic downtown."