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<\/p>\nWashington, D.C… The Justice Department today announced an agreement with the Township of Toms River, New Jersey, to resolve allegations that the Township violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) by severely restricting where houses of worship can locate within its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
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The proposed consent decree, which was filed today in the U.S. District Court of the District of New Jersey and must still be approved by the court, would resolve a lawsuit the United States also filed today alleging that the Township\u2019s zoning code places unreasonable limits on where religious assemblies and institutions may locate, substantially burdens religious exercise and treats religious assemblies and institutions on less than equal terms with nonreligious assemblies and institution.<\/p>\n
\u201cRLUIPA protects people of all faiths in their right to exercise their religion,\u201d said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela S. Karlan of the Civil Rights Division. \u201cThe Department of Justice has long enforced RLUIPA against zoning regulations that unreasonably burden religious exercise by imposing unwarranted restrictions and conditions on the location of houses of worship.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFederal law protects religious communities against unequal treatment and unwarranted burdens,\u201d said Rachael A. Honig, Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. \u201cZoning regulations that impose unreasonable restrictions or prevent religious faiths from having a place to worship violate RLUIPA. Through the resolution entered today, this office takes another step to put an end to unlawful zoning practices and vindicate the civil rights of minority religious communities in the District of New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n
The complaint alleges that since 2009, Toms River has enacted a series of revisions to its zoning code\u2014including a ten-acre parcel minimum requirement\u2014which greatly reduced both the number of zoning districts in which houses of worship can locate and the number of sites available for houses of worship. These restrictions have had a particular impact on the Township\u2019s Orthodox Jewish population, who, because of their faith and religious traditions, tend to worship at small houses of worship which they walk to and from on the Sabbath and holidays. The complaint also alleges that the Township\u2019s zoning ordinance treats houses of worship and other religious assemblies and institutions on less favorable terms than nonreligious assemblies and institutions.<\/p>\n
As part of the consent decree, the Township will revise its zoning code to: reduce the minimum acreage required for a house of worship in many zoning districts from ten acres to two acres; allow houses of worship as-of-right in certain zoning districts; allow smaller houses of worship to be located on minor collector roads; and treat houses of worship on comparable terms to nonreligious places of assembly. The consent decree also requires the Township to train its officials and employees on RLUIPA\u2019s requirements, establish a procedure for receiving and resolving RLUIPA complaints and other injunctive relief.<\/p>\n
RLUIPA is a federal law that protects religious institutions from unduly burdensome or discriminatory land use regulations. In June 2018, the Justice Department announced its\u00a0Place to Worship Initiative,<\/a>\u00a0which focuses on RLUIPA\u2019s provisions that protect the rights of houses of worship and other religious institutions to worship on their land.\u00a0More information is available at\u00a0www.justice.gov\/crt\/placetoworship<\/a>.<\/p>\n Individuals who believe they have been subjected to discrimination in land use or zoning decisions may contact the Civil Rights Division Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at (800) 896-7743, or the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office Civil Right Hotline at (855) 281-3339, or may submit a complaint through the complaint portal<\/a>\u00a0on the\u00a0Place to Worship Initiative<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>website. More information about RLUIPA, including questions and answers about the law and other documents, may be found at\u00a0http:\/\/www.justice.gov\/crt\/about\/hce\/rluipaexplain.php<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Washington, D.C… The Justice Department today announced an agreement with the Township of Toms River, New Jersey, to resolve allegations that the Township violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) by severely restricting where houses of worship can locate within its jurisdiction. The proposed consent decree, which was filed today in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1599,"featured_media":80592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,4,1,139],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-life-style","category-news","category-religion","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/dojpng.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1599"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}