Thanks to a dispute in Pima County, a federal appeals court may be forced to consider exactly what qualifies as a church.
The dispute is over plans by a couple to build a chapel on the edge of Tucson. County zoning officials looked at the planned uses-- including 70 weddings a year-- and concluded it was not a church but rather a commercial enterprise which did not belong in the area. The owners disagreed and sued under a federal law which prohibits government from imposing any land use rule that imposes a “substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person.”
A Tuesday hearing before a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals featured deputy Pima County Attorney Andy Flagg defending the zoning officials’ conclusion and saying that federal law does allow restrictions if there is a compelling government interest and the regulations are the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. The couple’s attorney says they lost the property in foreclosure and now simply want financial damages.
