In St. Timothy's Episcopal Church v. City of Brookings, (D OR, March 27, 2024), an Oregon federal district court held that a zoning ordinance that limits the number of days that a church can serve free meals to people in need violates the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. St. Timothy's has been offering free lunchtime meals since 2009 and sees this as fundamental to their Episcopalian faith. Most recently meals have been served three to four times per week. In 2021, the city amended its zoning code to require a conditional use permit for "benevolent meal services" in residential districts and limited such services to two times per week. Finding that the city has burdened the church's religious exercise without a compelling interest in violation of RLUIPA, the court said in part:
[P]rotecting the public welfare, maintaining peace and order, and preventing crime are all certainly compelling government interests in a broad, general sense. However, the City has not articulated how the specific provisions of the Ordinance that limit meal service to two days per week ... serve to protect public welfare, maintain peace and order, or prevent crime in practical application. The Court can find no logical, causal relationship between the limitation and these interests....
Here, the City has long permitted, and arguably even supported benevolent meal services at St. Timothy's, without limitation as to the number of days such meals could be provided. This undisputed fact is fatal to their argument that the Ordinance's restrictions are intended to promote public welfare, peace, and order, and to deter crime....
... [T]he City has not shown that it considered and rejected the efficacy of less restrictive measures.
