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Vacaville Seventh Day Adventist Church and Maranatha Broadcasting v. Solano County
The Vacaville Seventh Day Adventist Church purchased a 20 acre property in a rural residential zoning district of Vacaville, California in 1995, and on June 1 of that year received a conditional use permit from Solano County. The CUP allowed the construction of a church and school, which were soon built and occupied.
The church also began to pursue the idea of operating a non-profit radio station to spread the Christian Gospel in the area, and obtained a construction permit from the FCC on December 26, 1996.
In mid-1997, as the church proceeded with plans to build a studio facility on its property, the county advised them that operating a non-profit educational religious broadcasting station might not be a permitted use, and that they should ask for an official zoning determination. They did so, and the county quickly notified them that it was not considered a permitted use. On November 7, 1997, the church applied for a minor revision to its use permit to permit the station operation, which would involve a staff of just five people. On February 19, 1998, the county planning commission approved an application for a community service program and youth clubs on the church's property, but denied the radio station application. The church appealed to the Board of Supervisors, which upheld the Planning Commission action and denied the application.
A suit was filed against the county in state court on July 13, 1998, and the court ruled against the church in July 1999. The case was then taken to the California Court of Appeal, which upheld the denial, and then to the California Supreme Court, which also sustained the denial.
On February 11, 2002, the Vocaville Seventh Day Adventist Church and the lay group set up to run the station, Maranatha Broadcasting, filed suit against Solano County in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, charging that the county violated RLUIPA in denying the permit. On July 9, 2002, the county moved to dismiss the complaint. The case was transferred to Judge Morrison England on August 10, and on February 5, 2003, he granted the motion in part, and denied in part, permitting the RLUIPA claims to go forward.
On December 17, 2003, the county asked that law professor Marci Hamilton be allowed to appear pro hac vice, and on January 15, 2004, her clients, led by the National League of Cities and the International Municipal Lawyers Association, filed a motion for leave to file an amicus brief. On January 16, Vocaville Seventh Day Adventist Church filed a motion for summary judgment (PDF format, 10K) and a memorandum in support of the motion (PDF format, 89K). On January 20 the county filed its own summary judgment motion, and notice of a claim of unconstitutionality of RLUIPA
On February 17, 2004, The Becket Fund filed an amicus curiae brief (PDF format, 393K), along with the American Jewish Congress, the Interfaith Religious Liberty Foundation and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church State Council. The brief makes a strong case for the constitutionality of RLUIPA, arguing that in its filings with the court, Solano County "fails to cite even once the controlling decision of the Ninth Circuit" on the issue of whether RLUIPA violates the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, its decision in Mayweathers v. Newland, in which the appeals court rejected Establishment Clause, Tenth Amendment, Separation-of-Powers, Eleventh Amendment and Spending Clause challenges to RLUIPA's prisoner provisions, using reasoning that applies equally to its land use provisions.
A motion hearing is currently scheduled for March 1, 2004.
(Vacaville Seventh Day Adventist Church and Maranatha Broadcasting v. Solano County, et al., U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, Case No. 02-CV-336)
More information on the case is available at the church's special website, www.kask.org.