In this election season, you can’t turn on a TV or radio without
hearing ads and sound bites from politicians and aspiring candidates
talking about the crucial need for better education, more jobs, and the
need to raise taxes on somebody.
But city officials in Upper
Arlington, Ohio, seem to think they can get along just fine without any
of those things – if it ensures that they can prevent people like you
from providing a Christ-friendly learning environment for their
children.
Which is why, on September 11, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys were compelled to file an appeal against
the city on behalf of Tree of Life Christian Schools. Officials have
been refusing to grant Tree of Life a permit that would allow them to
use their own building – and, incredible as it may seem, a federal judge
recently supported the city’s position.
It’s been almost two years since we filed the initial lawsuit against
Upper Arlington, after city officials refused to allow Tree of Life
Christian Schools – whose owners had just purchased the former America
Online/Time-Warner building – to apply for zoning approval that would
let them use the expansive facility as their new campus. Curiously, the
city has no problem allowing daycare facilities and other similar groups
to locate in the same zone without seeking advance zoning approval.
Their
decision is even harder to understand when you consider that the
building – which would allow the school to double in size, consolidate
its resources, and relieve its other, overcrowded campuses – would
accommodate approximately 660 students, provide more than 150 new jobs
to the city, and increase tax revenues. All of which would seem
preferable to a big, empty building.
Faced with the city’s
recalcitrance, Alliance Defending Freedom filed suit under the Religious
Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, which bars government
officials from subjecting religious ministries to unequal treatment in
zoning laws. In August, though, a federal judge ruled against the
school; now we’re appealing the case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the 6th Circuit.
“Federal law specifically prohibits zoning
officials from subjecting religious organizations to this type of
unequal treatment,” says Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Legal Counsel
Erik Stanley. “Upper Arlington will allow other groups to occupy a
building in this zone, but it won’t allow this school.
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2 comments:
The District Court comments indicate that Tree of Life Ministries has not asked the City for a rezoning to school use, even though the City notified the Tree of Life that a rezoning would be needed. The Court stated that Tree of Life instead filed a lawsuit to get a rezoning, but needed first to ask for one and be denied [if indeed they would be] and then file a lawsuit. Why doesn't Tree of Life just ask for rezoning?
The Court stated that the evidence showed that the City did not allow others to use any property in the zone as a school or daycare, etc. So it seems the City is applying its zoning code evenly, according to the court findings.
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