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Court
Rules to Protect Landmark
Peoria
On March 31, 2009, the United States District Court for
the Central District of Illinois rejected a church's
challenge to the City of Peoria's decision to landmark a
historic apartment building it owned, as well as the
city's subsequent refusal to allow the church to
demolish the building. The church based its suit on the
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
+(RLUIPA), a 2000 federal law that protects houses of
worship from local land use decisions that impinge
excessive burden on a congregation’s ability to exercise
its faith.
As reported in Landmarks Illinois’ January 2007
newsletter, the historic Prairie-style Roanoke
Apartments building, owned by Trinity Evangelical
Lutheran Church, was declared a city landmark in 2000.
It is adjacent to the locally designated Randolph
Roanoke Historic District. In 2006, the church sought to
demolish the building and argued that it needed the
additional land to expand its ministries by building a
community center. The Peoria Historic Preservation
Commission twice denied a certificate of
appropriateness, prompting church officials to ask City
Council to supersede the commission's ruling by
repealing the building’s landmark designation. Both
Landmarks Illinois and the Central Illinois Landmarks
Foundation objected to the repeal request. Landmarks
Illinois emphasized in a November 2006 letter to the
Peoria City Council that RLUIPA “…does not provide
religious institutions with immunity from land use
regulation, nor does it relieve religious institutions
from applying for variances, special permits or
exceptions…” 146 Cong.Rec. S7774, S7776 (daily ed. July
27, 2000).
The Peoria City Council denied church officials’ request
to repeal the landmark designation and the congregation
filed suit in February 2007 invoking RLUIPA's
"substantial burden" provision. In his ruling, citing a
past case – Vision Church v. Village of Long Grove
– Judge McDade held that the limitations on the church's
ability to tear down the building did not constitute a
"substantial burden." The court also found it
significant that the city's decision affected only one
building on the church campus and did not prevent the
church from continuing its religious ministries. The
court recognized that the inability to demolish the
church did place a financial burden on the church, but
found that this burden was not "substantial" within the
meaning of RLUIPA.
The Trinity congregation has until April 30 to file an
appeal. Based on that decision, city officials and
advocates will determine how best to address the future
of the building. The City maintains that the church has
adequate land upon which to build new facilities. In the
meantime, the Roanoke Apartments building remains empty,
suffering from deferred maintenance. The church also has
turned down a previous purchase offer.
For more information, please contact Josh Naven at (309)
494-8657 or
jnaven@ci.peoria.il.us.
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