Mich. town allows church to occupy property in wake of lawsuit

City quickly agrees to court order that allows church represented by ADF-allied attorney to use building for religious services
Monday, December 06, 2010

HAZEL PARK, Mich. — The city of Hazel Park has agreed to a court order, issued Friday, that prohibits the city from enforcing a zoning ordinance that bans religious groups--but not non-religious groups--from using buildings on commercial property for religious assembly. For nearly a year, Salvation Temple Church, represented by an Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney, was not allowed to occupy a building that it had contracted to purchase, yet non-religious organizations faced no such restriction.

“Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination and kept from practicing their faith in their own building by a city’s zoning restrictions,” said ADF-allied attorney Daniel Dalton of Dalton, Tomich, & Pensler, PLC, in Bloomfield Hills. “City officials cannot restrict assemblies to purely non-religious activities. They intentionally changed their policy a few years ago to eliminate religious use so that they could increase their tax revenue, and that’s simply not legal. The city has finally done the right thing in agreeing to respect this church’s rights, protected by both the Constitution and federal law.” the rest