[MassHistPres] Churches in LHDs

[Heather Massler]

A similar argument was made with respect to the Third Church of Christ,
Scientist, in Washington, DC.  The church filed suit in District Court
against the DC government for the right to demolish the church.  The suit
referenced the First Amendment, Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act (RLUIPA), and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).  As
far as I know there was never a decision in court because the city's
planning director eventually permitted the demolition.  Nevertheless, a
local site noted this:

"D.C. planning director Harriet Tregoning said that the building was an
"experiment" that had "failed badly." No doubt, she had little say in the
matter: U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson
pressed<http://dcist.com/2009/04/judge_all_but_rules_fate_of_third_c.php>the
issue by threatening to overrule a decision that guides the ways in
which a city can declare a church an historic building."

Heather Massler

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:36 AM, <slater at alum.rpi.edu> wrote:

>  Our city attorney is floating a theory that it is may not be legal to
> include churches in local historic districts because this would be a
> violation of the separation of church & state, in particular because any
> encumbrance would be considered a "taking" under the 5th amendment,
> particularly since the building would not be permitted to be demolished.
>
> Can anyone speak to that? That seems like a very dangerous path to go down.
>
>
> Ralph Slate
> Springfield, MA
>
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