Now their neighbors are hopping mad and getting organized to stop it.
"The law allows any priest, mullah or Wiccan to set up a church next door to your house," says Hancock Park resident Len Hill.
The 2000 law, known as the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, bars governments from enforcing zoning codes that impose "a substantial burden" on religious assembly, unless a "compelling governmental interest" can be cited. The genesis of the law dates to 1990, when some conservative politicians latched onto a controversy over Native Americans' religious practices as an example of infringement on religious freedom. One response to the controversy was passage of RLUIPA 10 years later.
Religious groups from Wyoming to Connecticut are invoking the law to build everything from soup kitchens to day care centers, often in residential areas. In Austin, Texas, a Baptist church sued the municipality for violating RLUIPA after it rejected the church's plan to build a five-story parking lot on a residential street. County officials say one man outside Pittsburgh started the Church of Universal Love and Music after he wasn't allowed to hold outdoor music concerts.
Mr. Hill ... and eight other wealthy residents of Hancock Park have raised $500,000 for a campaign to overturn the law. The group has formed the League of Residential Neighborhood Advocates, a nonprofit organization that plans to fund lawsuits on behalf of like-minded homeowners across the country.
... "The term 'compelling interest' is really esoteric," says Marci A. Hamilton, the league's attorney. "The law basically gives religious landowners special privileges."
Proponents say that RLUIPA isn't a trump card but protects religious groups, particularly of non-Christian faiths, from cities and residents that try to use zoning ordinances to discriminate against them. City officials try to keep religious groups out of commercial areas because they don't generate sales tax revenues. Homeowners, in turn, cite zoning laws to keep institutions out of their neighborhoods, says Derek Gaubatz, legal counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a public-interest law firm in Washington.
Keep in mind, these Hasidic Jews are not exactly Johnnies-come-lately to this neighborhood -- they've been holding services in a home in this neighborhood for about 30 years. They bought the new synagogue so that their aging membership would have an easier time walking to shuel -- it is more central for where the congregation lives.
The congregation applied for a permit to use the house as a synagogue but they say a small group of homeowners lobbied the city to deny the permit. Indeed, one Hancock Park resident, outraged by the behavior of his neighbors, offered the services of his high-powered law firm, Latham & Watkins, to sue the city, leading to the settlement. The deal capped the number of worshippers at 50 and prohibited ancillary services, such as day care.
"The settlement only allows them to go there and pray," says attorney Susan Azad, another partner at Los Angeles-based Latham & Watkins. "It's sad that these powerful homeowners have chosen to go after these people who are just trying to worship their God."
The league's nine members say the dispute isn't about religion but about preserving the residential character of their neighborhood. The league says city officials entered a settlement behind closed doors and denied homeowners the right to a public hearing. The group filed a lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles claiming that the congregation and the city violated the land-use laws when striking the settlement. The league is also seeking an injunction that would prohibit Rabbi Rubin from holding religious services at his current Hancock Park home.
"The league was formed in the dust of that demolition," says Mr. Hill. "It was a rude awakening for the community." ("Should Religious Groups Be Exempt From Zoning?" By Queena Sook Kim, The Wall Street Journal, July 15)
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