Designation of Catholic Church as Historic Structure Is Enjoined

In Zubik v. City of Pittsburgh, (WD PA, Feb. 11, 2025), a Pennsylvania federal district court enjoined the city of Pittsburgh from designating a closed Catholic church building that is in substantial disrepair as a historic structure. When a building is nominated for historic designation, its owners are prohibited from making any exterior alterations to the building. The court held that the nomination of the building by a city resident violated the city's Historic Designation Ordinance that requires the nomination of a religious structure "only be made by the owner(s) of record of the religious structure."

The court also concluded that the city's actions substantially burdened use of the church property for religious exercise in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The court said in part:

The City effectively supplanted the Diocese’s control over the external religious ornamentation and symbols affixed to the Church Building.  By doing so, the City hindered, restricted, or encumbered the Diocese’s religious use of its stained-glass windows and other sacred fixtures of the Church Building.  Contrary to the City’s argument, these encumbrances impose more than a “minimal effect of limiting how the Diocese could alter the street facing façade” of the Church Building....

...[O]n this record there is no compelling government interest in the City’s exercise of control over the Church Building, nor is the City’s pursuit of historic designation of the Church Building the least restrictive means of achieving its stated interests.

Italian Court Upholds Lease Of Historic Abbey to Conservative Catholic Group With American Ties

The Art Newspaper reports that in Italy in a decision published Monday, a 3-judge administrative court rejected an attempt by the Ministry of Culture to revoke a 19-year lease granted to a conservative Catholic organization, Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI), for an elaborate 13th century abbey. According to the report:

The lease was awarded as part of an initiative to involve the private sector in the management of abandoned cultural sites in Italy.

The judges concluded that the ministry had failed to act within the prescribed time limit for the annulment of public contracts. The verdict is an embarrassing defeat for the Italian ministry of culture which had argued that the time limit should not apply because the DHI made “false and mendacious” statements in its application for the lease, an allegation which the administrative judges say the ministry failed to provide evidence for.

DHI says that the case against it is politically motivated. DHI is funded by Donald Trump's controversial former chief strategist Steve Bannon. After the decision was released, Italy's Attorney General's Office said it would begin a criminal investigation of  DHI’s founder, Benjamin Harnwell. And the Ministry of Culture says it will appeal the administrative court's decision.

Court Says Religious Commitment To Climate Justice Prevails Over Historic Preservation Rules

According to the Keene Sentinel, last week a Massachusetts trial court judge ruled that a church's religious commitment to climate justice takes precedence over historic preservation rules:

A Massachusetts Superior Court judge last week ordered Bedford’s Historic District Commission to allow the First Parish Church to install solar panels on the roof of the sanctuary. In what could be a precedent-setting decision, the congregation can install panels to generate electricity in keeping with a principle of “climate justice.” John Gibbons, senior minister of the church, said in a press release, “This ruling makes it possible for us to give more than lip service to our religious values, to walk our talk and to live in greater harmony with the rhythms of nature.”

In other words, parishioners believed they needed to do something to cut carbon emissions to protect the earth. That principle of their faith overruled a strict adherence to preservation of the historic character of their 200-year-old building.

Forest Service Tells Interior To Cancel Leases On Sacred Blackfoot Land

Acting under the National Historic Preservation Act, last week Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack recommended in a letter (full text) to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell that 18 oil and gas leases on sacred Blackfoot Indian land in Montana be cancelled.  As reported by AP, drilling suspensions on the land have been in effect since the 1980's.  The leases are on land in the Badger-Two Medicine Traditional Cultural District located on the Lewis and Clark National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service is part of the Department of Agriculture.  One of the lease holders has sued challenging as unreasonable the 29-year delay in reviewing the lease suspension.  Last month in Solenex, LLC v. Jewell, (D DC, Oct. 8, 2015), the D.C. federal district court ordered the government to notify the court by November 23 whether it plans to cancel or lift the suspension of the lease.

UPDATE: On Nov. 28, AP reported that the Interior Department accepted the recommendation and plans to cancel a 6,200 acre lease to Solenex.  Counsel for Solenex says if the lease is cancelled, the company is entitled to compensation.

Settlement Reached In Synagogue's Suit Challenging Historic Site Designiation

The AP reports that a Florida, federal district court last week approved a settlement agreement in Temple B'nai Zion, Inc. v. City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, a case on remand from the 11th Circuit (see prior posting). In the case the synagogue claims that its designation as an historic site-- thereby preventing demolition and construction of a new building on the site-- violated its relgious freedom rights. The Temple was declared a landmark because of a 2004 meeting of Holocaust survivors there. Three of the city commission members involved in the decision were former members of the synagogue before it moved from embracing Conservative Judaism to becoming an Orthodox synagogue. The hearing on the synagogue's objections to the designation was filled with comments from individuals unhappy about actions of the synagogue's rabbi. Under the settlement, the historic landmark designation remains, but the Temple will be permitted to make certain structural changes. The city will also give the Temple a transferable development right elsewhere in the city.