PJI Helps Convince Portland-Area City to Quit Blocking Church's Expansion
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
February 22, 2006
(AgapePress) - - After months of resistance and delays, officials in one Oregon city have reversed their earlier decision and will now allow a local church to expand its facility. Now, thanks to the legal assistance of Pacific Justice Institute, Calvary Chapel Worship Center of Hillsboro will be able to expand not only its buildings but its outreach to the local community as well. Several years ago, Calvary Chapel Worship Center built a new facility just outside Hillsboro, a city just west of Portland. Since then, the church and surrounding area have experienced rapid growth, so congregation leaders proposed an expansion. However, city officials refused to grant the church the required permits, citing restrictive zoning laws. So, even though the congregation's neighbors supported the expansion, the church's proposal was turned down.
Brad Dacus is president of the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), which intervened on the church's behalf. He emphasizes that it is "so important for individuals and people of faith as well as churches to stand up for their rights." PJI advised Calvary Chapel of the significant rights and protections churches have under federal law and also supplied research to the church's attorney, Roger Alfred of the law firm of Perkins Coie in Portland.
Alfred then convinced city officials that the zoning restrictions they were using to deny Calvary Chapel permission to expand actually violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Afterward, the city informed the church that it could proceed with its expansion project. In relaying the good news to PJI, Pastor Rich Jones thanked the organization for its help, noting that the legal experts there were "absolutely vital" to Calvary Chapel's success.
In his response, Dacus noted, 'Churches like Calvary Chapel Worship Center are providing an irreplaceable benefit to their communities." Therefore, he says, it is essential that churches' property rights be respected, "and we at PJI are eager to vindicate those rights."
The PJI spokesman says pastors and other church leaders and members need to know, particularly in dealing with land use issues, that "even if a city or local government tries to take the land via eminent domain, there are special protections still in the law for churches, even against those kinds of tactics."
Dacus wants church members to know that he and the rest of his team are always ready to assist them when government officials try to use eminent domain or other unfair practices to deprive congregations of their legal rights. "We at Pacific Justice Institute are making it very clear for all the churches we represent that the federal RLUIPA statute still gives special protection for churches from such activities and actions by local governments," he says.
