A Bolingbrook, Illinois church has filed a federal lawsuit under RLUIPA alleging that the village is substantially burdening its free exercise of religion by refusing to allow it to operate in Bolingbrook Commons, a shopping center that is already zoned to permit churches and in which another church is located. The complaint (full text) in Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church, Inc. v. Village of Bolingbrook, (ED IL, filed 3/30/2011), alleges that village officials claim the shopping center is zoned B-2 (which does not allow churches), even though the village zoning map designates the area as B-4 (commercial). According to Bolingbrook Patch, the current zoning maps show Bolingbrook Commons in an area colored orange with no B-2 label near it. Village officials say the maps have been removed from the Village website in order to update them so that the zones show more clearly. The complaint claims the mayor told a church Elder that the village already has enough churches and that the landlord should never have executed a lease to the church without the mayor's permission.
UPDATE: Chicago Tribune reports (4/12) that Liberty Temple Full Gospel Church has been granted a temporary restraining order by the federal district court that will allow it to open its church in Bolingbrook Commons. Also, here is the zoning map that was at issue (via Tom Ciesielka).
